[Reader-list] Talk at NMML: ‘The retro turn in Bombay cinema’, Thursday, 28 February 2013, 3:00 p.m

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
cordially invites you to the
 
 Seminar
 
Title:  ‘The retro turn in Bombay cinema’
 
Speaker: Dr. RanjaniMazumdar, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi.
Date: Thursday, 28 February 2013 
Time: 3:00 p.m
 
Venue: Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building, NehruMemorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti House, New Delhi.   
 
 
Abstract:
 
Indian cities in the last two decades have witnessed majortransformations. The rise of innovative architectural designs, new forms ofinfrastructure and the ubiquitous presence of technological gadgets have markedthis moment as globalization. This transformation has created a dense visualand aural landscape in which the sound of the cell phone follows us everywherealong with new surfaces and objects that pervade the city. The intoxicatingsensorium generated by urban renewal, shop signage, and the power of light ismaking the ruins of the old industrial city slowly fade away. It is thisjuncture that has triggered off a cinematic re-visiting of Bombay’s pre-globalized urban form. ManiRatnam’s Guru (2007), Milan Luthria’s Once Upon a Timein Mumbai (2010), Chandan Arora’s Striker (2010), andMahesh Manjrekar's City of Gold (2010) are examples of filmsthat have created vivid images of Bombay before theadvent of globalization. The narratives of these 21st centuryfilms are located at different moments of the last sixty years. The films drawon perceived notions of the recent past to specifically design a citydevoid of the signs of the present. These urban 'sets' created by productionand costume designers contain familiar and antiquated material. The sets areeither constructed in studios or generated through a transformation of reallocations, to adapt to the time of the films. Production designers work with amaterial memory of the past – magazines, films, photographs, memoirs,paintings, architectural manuals, and music. There is a fascination withoutmoded or obsolete technology, older forms of home decor, fashion andaccessories. The retro past is always a recent past, a nostalgicadmiration for a world that has just passed us by. The act of revisiting drawsfrom both high and low forms and is consumed by aesthetic tensions. This paperengages with the material, cultural and historical transactions involved in therecreation of India’sbest known city before the entry of globalization.  
 
Speaker:
Dr. Ranjani Mazumdar isAssociate Professor of Cinema Studies at the School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Herpublications focus on urban cultures, popular cinema, gender and the cinematiccity. She is the author of Bombay Cinema: An Archive of the City(2007) and co-author with Nitin Govil of the forthcoming The IndianFilm Industry (2013). She has also worked as a documentary filmmaker andher productions include DelhiDiary 2001 and The Power of the Image (Co-Directed).Her current research focuses on globalization and film culture, the visualculture of film posters and the intersection of technology, travel anddesign in 1960s Bombay Cinema.
 
 
 
 


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Ranjani Mazumdar
Cinema Studies
School of Arts and Aesthetics
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi 110067