Recontextualizing Indian Shakespeare Cinema in the West: Familiar Strangers

Description

Featuring case studies, essays, and conversation pieces by scholars and practitioners, this volume explores how Indian cinematic adaptations outside the geopolitical and cultural boundaries of India are revitalizing the broader landscape of Shakespeare research, performance, and pedagogy. Essays in this volume address practical and thematic concerns and opportunities that are specific to studying Indian cinematic Shakespeares in the West. For instance, how have intercultural encounters between Indian Shakespeare films and American students inspired new pedagogic methodologies? How has the presence and popularity of Indian Shakespeare films affected policy change at British cultural institutions? How can disagreement between eastern and western perspectives on the politics of a Shakespeare film become the site for productive cross-cultural dialogue? This is the first book to explore such complex interactions between Indian Shakespeare films and Western audiences to contribute to the assessment of the new networks that have emerged as a result of Global Shakespeare studies and practices. The volume argues that by tracking critical currents from India towards the West new insights are afforded on the wider field of Shakespeare Studies - including feminist Shakespeares, translation in Shakespeare, or the study of music in Shakespeare - and are shaping debates on the ownership and meaning of Shakespeare itself. Contributing to the current studies in Global Shakespeare, this book marks a discursive shift in the way Shakespeare on Indian screen is predominantly theorised and offers an alternative methodology for examining non-Anglophone cinematic Shakespeares as a whole. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS CONTRIBUTORS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOREWORD On Reading the Indian Shakespeare Film Poonam Trivedi Notes References INTRODUCTION Indian Shakespeare Cinema in the West: Past, Present, and Future Directions A Conversation between Varsha Panjwani and Koel Chatterjee Chapter descriptions Notes References PART ONE Dismantling the Familiar 1 Re-generation: Remapping the Screenscape in Fractious Times Diana E. Henderson Notes References 2 Two Indian Film Offshoots of Twelfth Night Robert White Notes Films Cited References 3 ‘For never was a story ofmore woe’: Dialogic Telling and Global Interchange in Qayamat se Qayamat Tak, a ‘Bollywood’ Film Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet Mark Thornton Burnett Notes References 4 ‘Indian’ Independent Cinema and Shakespeare Sharat Katariya and Vandana Kataria in conversation with Tula Goenka Notes References 5 Vandana Kataria’s Noblemen: Global Frames of Interpretation Taarini Mookherjee Notes References 6 Chutzpah: The Politics of Bollywood Shakespeare Subtitles Varsha Panjwani1 Notes References PART TWO Recontextualizing the Stranger 7 Curating Indian Shakespeares at the BFI in 2016 Helen de Witt in conversation with Anne Sophie Refskou Notes References 8 ‘Travelling’ with Shakespeare through Bhardwaj’s Haider: From US Classrooms to the Global Shakespeare Movement Jyotsna G. Singh A pedagogy of cultural intelligibility Return to Shakespeare’s Hamlet Notes References 9 Understanding Nimmi: Tracing Interpretations of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool Ana Laura Magis Weinberg Nimmi Love Abba-ji Child Reading the fi lm Notes References 10 ‘Naina¯ t·haga lem·ge’: Visual Uncertainty in Othello and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara Shani Bans ‘Scattering and unsure observance’ in Othello Translating Omkara Songs and narrative in Indian cinema Dolly’s deceiving eyes ‘To see rain . . . when its cloudless’: Omkara’ s ocular proof Conclusion Notes References 11 A Pair of Homotextual Lovers: Bhansali’s Ram-Leela and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Amritesh Singh Introduction Song-and-dance sequences in Ram-Leela: a case for homotextuality Notes References 12 ‘All the world’s a stage’: The Participatory Indian Cinema Audience and its Impact on Indian Shakespeare Films Koel Chatterjee Notes References AFTERWORD Sonia Massai Notes References INDEX