Rosie Thomas 
Bombay before Bollywood 
Film City Fantasies

Bombay before Bollywood offers a fresh, alternative look at the history of Indian cinema. Avoiding the conventional focus on India’s social and mythological films, Rosie Thomas examines the subaltern genres of the ‘magic and fighting films’—the fantasy, costume, and stunt films popular in the decades before and immediately after independence. She explores the influence of this other cinema on the big-budget masala films of the 1970s and 1980s, before ‘Bollywood’ erupted onto the world stage in the mid-1990s.



Thomas focuses on key moments in this hidden history, including the 1924 fairy fantasy
Gul-e-Bakavali; the 1933 talkie
Lal-e-Yaman; the exploits of stunt queen Fearless Nadia; the magical neverlands of
Hatimtai and
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp; and the 1960s stunt capers
Zimbo and
Khilari. She includes a detailed ethnographic account of the Bombay film industry of the early 1980s, centering on the beliefs and fantasies of filmmakers themselves with regard to filmmaking and film audiences, and on-the-ground operations of the industry. A welcome addition to the fields of film studies and cultural studies, the book will also appeal to general readers with an interest in Indian cinema.

Table des matières

List of Tables and Figures

Credits

Acknowledgments



1. Bombay before Bollywood: Film City Fantasies




Part One



Introduction to Part One



2. Thieves of the Orient: The
Arabian Nights in Early Indian Cinema



3. Distant Voices, Magic Knives:
Lal-e-Yaman and the Transition to Sound in Bombay Cinema



4. Not Quite (Pearl) White: Fearless Nadia, Queen of the Stunts



5. Zimbo and Son Meet the Girl with a Gun



6. Still Magic: An Aladdin’s Cave of 1950s B-Movie Fantasy




Part Two



Introduction to Part Two



7. Where the Money Flows, the Camera Rolls



8. Indian Cinema: Pleasures and Popularity



9. Sanctity and Scandal: The Mythologisation of Mother India



10. Mother India Maligned: The Saga of Sanjay Dutt



References and Select Bibliography

Index

A propos de l’auteur

At the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom,
Rosie Thomas is Professor of Film, Faculty of Media, Arts, and Design, Director of the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media, and Co-Director of the India Media Centre.