History of Indian Cinema and Culture
This course aims to provide and introduce to students a study of Indian Cinema as it has evolved and continues to evolve. Films will be studied in chronological order to map a history of Indian cinema from the early 20th century to the present. This course explores Indian cinema in three areas: Classic cinema, Popular/Bollywood cinema, and Diasporic films. Students will explore post-colonialism, nationalism, and modernity, and they will watch selected films and read assigned texts/theory that analyze topics including history, race, religion, gender, narrative, visual content, identity, politics of region, and caste. The course will also analyze film elements such as narrative, symbolism, music, dance, visual imagery, historical allusions, use of classical epics, and the social history.