Editor’s Note
Greetings from Manipal!
Films reveal the characteristics of a society in which produced and consumed. In some cases, films depict complex themes and considered as a work of art. Studying film as an academic subject is gaining ground due to its relation to culture, history, aesthetics, and technology.
The Indian Film industry comprises films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Assamese and other Indian Languages. The Hindi Films are known as Bollywood films, as produced from Mumbai earlier known as Bombay. Seventeen Hindi films entered the coveted INR 100 crore club in 2019, which is the highest ever. Six movies made it to the INR 200 crore club in 2019 compared to three in 2018. (EY India,2020).
Some of the trends seen in the Indian film industry are-growth in domestic theatrical revenue; growth of revenue in digital /OTT rights; overseas revenue; some movies are released on OTT platforms even before their release on TV.The other developments in the Indian film industry are In-Cinema advertising grew as brands have signed long term deals; some genre of films for home viewership only; technological rich experiences to drive more footfalls in the theatre.
The papers in this volume address some of the issues and themes pertinent to the Hindi Film industry.
The paper on 'Reflections of Radical Political Movements on the Silver Screen: An Analysis' discusses radical political movements in Indian movies.
Contagious Disease and Commercial Cinema: A Study of Selected Films for Their Impact on Health Literacy' emphasizes health literacy in the backdrop of the current pandemic situation.
The paper on 'A Descriptive Study of the Content Orientation of Selected Contemporary Indian Short Films' discusses an ideological approach to analyze the content and genre of a total of 10 short films of the two production companies mentioned in the discussion.
The research titled 'Polarities in Gender Representation- Kabir Singh and Thappad' deals with the polarities of representation through deconstruction and discourse analysis of two films.
The paper on'Is Macho the In-thing? Effects of the Representation of Masculinity in Bollywood Cinema on Youngsters' analyses the effects of the representation of masculinity in Bollywood cinema on youngsters.
The research article on 'In Film Brand Placement: A successful strategy for brand promotion' examines the acceptance of in-film branding among audiences and the audience's recall capacity.
The paper on 'Laughter Through the Ages: Role of Comedy Films in Shaping Bollywood' aims to analyze how the changes in comedy are understood. How cine-goers interpret them across select cities in India and the US?
The paper' Bromance in Bollywood: Is it dismantling homohysteria and homophobia?' analyses films like Silsila, Dosti, Sholay, Dil Chahta Hai, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, and Rang De Basanti and relooks at tenability of homoerotic subtexts of these films.
The research paper on 'Analysing the Subject plot and Characterisation of Women Oriented Bollywood Films: 2015-2019' dissects the subject plots and characterization of a few women-oriented films made in Bollywood between 2015 to 2019.
The paper on 'Globalization propelled technology often ends up in its micro-localization: Cinema viewing in the time of OTT' probes how Indian millennial audiences, mainly the 'Digital Mainstream' has been watching cinema on OTT platforms. Why are they switching to mobile devices rather than sticking to the big cinema screens?
The paper on 'Dance like a Man: A Cinematic Exploration of Gender Roles and Biases Prevalent in Indian Society' discusses the film, bringing to the fore the aching truth of gender discrimination and patriarchy victimizing both men and women in Indian society.
The research on 'Translations from a Linguistic Medium to a Visual Medium: A study of Vishal Bhardwaj adaptation of Shakespeare' explores the works of Vishal Bhardwaj in his attempt to adapt Shakespeare into Indian cinema.
We had an overwhelming response to our call for papers. We can only take 12 papers on the Hindi film industry.
We have planned to have the next issue on Regional Films in India, where the papers are addressing issues of regional cinema.
We wish all our readers and contributors to stay safe & Healthy.
Padma Rani
Editor-GMJ-Indian edition.
Dr Padma Rani
Director & Professor,
Manipal Institute of Communication;
Manipal Academy of Higher Education,
Manipal-576104 (INDIA)
Coordinator - Media Research Centre