Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Spring 2024

Date of Submission

2024-09-13

Advisor

Palvashay Sethi, Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences

Committee

Ramsha Siddiqui, Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

Bollywood, Film, Cricket, Cinema, Postcolonial, Sport Film

Abstract

This thesis does a postcolonial reading of a select few Bollywood cricket films to investigate how the nation or the idea of nationhood is constructed in them. Through an understanding of the history of cricket and its decolonization in India, it recognizes the value of cricket as a narrative device and a national symbol, despite its colonial origins, and analyses the films based on this particular understanding of the sport.

The primary texts used in the thesis include Lagaan (2001, dir. Ashutosh Gowariker), Patiala House (2001, dir. Nikkhil Advani), 83 (2021, dir. Kabir Khan), and Shabaash Mithu (2022, dir. Sirijit Mukherji). The aim of this project is to explore whether there are any recurring themes, ideas, motifs or tropes in these films that aid the possible understanding of the nation, and if their particular narrative structures are conducive to the building of national sentiments. The postcolonial framework is chosen on account the specific positionality of the author as a Pakistani reading cultural projects created in India - the state of being postcolonial is common to both and thus aids the grounding of this analysis. The framework is primarily structured around the work of Homi Bhabha, whose ideas, such as those of mimicry and sly civility, are marked by a certain ambivalence and theoretical room for interpretation.

The paper recognizes the conflation of the team and the idea of the nation, the significance of specific spatiality or temporality within the periods of active or post-coloniality, the reliance on particular figures to ground narratives as well as the idea of the nation being in a state of constant reinterpretation as the salient findings of its analysis.

Pages

1-84

Download

The full text of this document is only accessible to authorized users.

Share

COinS