[Reader-list] NMML Public Lecture on 'Dr. Kotnis ki amar kahani and after:Images of China in Bombay cinema'

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

                            TheNehru Memorial Museum and Library


cordiallyinvitesyoutoaPublicLecture


at3.00 pm on Wednesday, 10 April, 2013
inthe Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building


on


'Dr.Kotniskiamarkahaniandafter:
Imagesof China in Bombay cinema'


by


Prof.PatriciaUberoi,
InstituteofChineseStudies,Delhi.


Abstract:
ChinaisIndia’slargestneighbour,yetthiscountryhashadminimalrepresentationintheIndiancinematicimagination.ThispresentationfocusesonV.Shantaram’s DrKotniskiAmarKahani (TheImmortalStoryofDrKotnis,1946),amuch-citedandprobablylittlewatchedHindimoviethatextolsaniconicmomentinthetwentiethcenturyhistoryofSino-Indianrelations:theparticipationoftheIndianMedicalMissiontoChinainChina’sliberationstruggleagainstJapaneseoccupation,andthetragicdeathinthefieldofoneoftheMission’smembers,theeponymousDrD.S.Kotnis.Intheultimateanalysis,thefilmappearstoauthorizethesymbolicappropriationoftheChinese‘Other’tothepaternalisticorderoftheIndianfamilyjustas,intheearlyyearsafterIndependence,IndiawastopatronizetheassimilationofChinatotheworldorderofmodernnation-states.This,asweknow,provedtobeanunsustainablepartnership,settingthestageforthemotifofbetrayalthatpermeatesChetanAnand’s Haqeeqat (1964),thenextmajorcinematicrenderingofIndia–Chinarelations.Somefivedecadesonfromtheborderwarwhichforms Haqeeqat’ssubjectmatter,Indianpublicsentimentcontinuestobedominatedbythisdeepsenseofbetrayalandmistrust.


Speaker:
Prof.PatriciaUberoi hastaughtSociologyattheUniversityofDelhiandJawaharlalNehruUniversity,andretiredasProfessorofSociologyattheInstituteofEconomicGrowth,Delhi,whereshewasalsoeditorofthewell-knownsociologyjournal,ContributionstoIndianSociology. SheiscurrentlyHonoraryFellowandVice-ChairpersonoftheInstituteofChineseStudies,Delhi,whereshehasbeenactivelyinvolvedwiththeBangladesh-China-India-Myanmar(BCIM)TrackTworegionaldialogue.Shehaspublishedwidelyonaspectsoffamily,kinship,genderandpopularculture,includingcinema,inrespecttobothIndiaandChina.


Allare welcome.