Reviewing the National vs. Regional Debate in Indian Cinema

Abstract

As scholars and researchers, we encounter popular, journalistic or, occasionally, even scholarly writings which conflate the term Indian cinema with Hindi Cinema, more specifically with the Hindi cinema of Bombay, now labeled as Bollywood cinema. The fact that Indian cinema is constituted by films produced in 14 different languages is sometimes conveniently overlooked. Hindi film focused research and scholarshiphas largely overshadowed Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Ahomiya, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Odiya, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Konkani, Khasi, and others. These vernacular films are often lumped into a category called ‘regional cinema’ or ‘Kshetriya Cinema’ in Hindi. Thus, an example of regional film would, ordinarily, be a filmproduced outside the production context ofBombay, and in a language, which is not Hindi. Interestingly, there are non-Hindi films which are often produced in Bombay, if the not the entire film, but significant parts of its production are completed in Bombay. Thus, regional films could also be ‘Bombay films’, but such instances have reduced more and more with the adoption of digital technologies in film production.

I this article Ihave reviewed the discourse of regional cinema in India and have argued why this concept national and regional is fraught with unresolved conceptual problems, as well as political complexities. I have argued here that theprevailing notion of national and regional in Indian film scholarshipneeds to criticallyrevaluate for better understanding of film production in India, and for a renewed critical examination of the cultural and linguistic diversity of cinema in India. I have signposted theoretical problems which arise because of the national/regional paradigm and emphasizethe need for scholars and historians go beyond this well-entrenched schema of national/regional.In conclusion, I willpropose a category which I would like to call “the hindi regional cinema” – a category separate and distinct from Bombay films, having surfaced in the 1970s, and argue that this marginal form needs to be reinvented in the 21^st century. In doing so I willhighlight certain thematic concerns and research questionsin Indian film studies which future scholars of cinema might want to engage with.