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An Ethnographic Investigation of Hybird Bollywood Song and Dance Numbers

Introduction

Bollywood has been making movies since the 1930s.  Although the numbers are debated, today Bollywood is either the second or third most prolific film industry in the world.  The term Bollywood refers to the Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. This media across cultures project will focus on the song and dance numbers of Bollywood films with a methodological lens informed by ethnography. Ethnography is the scientific investigation of people and their cultures. Ethnography tries to understand how people live their lives and how they construct shared cultural meaning. In addition, ethnography locates spaces where shared cultural understandings are negotiated and formulated. Ethnographic concepts will be used to analyze the song and dance numbers of Bollywood films.  One of these ethnographic concepts is hybridity, which is the commingling of cultural elements from different cultures—the colonizer and the colonized— resulting in the construction of new cultural objects derived from the integration of these elements (Yazdiah, 2010, p. 31). Hybridity manifests in a number of different ways when the song and dance number of Bollywood films are considered.  When film theory is considered, Bollywood films emerge as a hybrid between first world and third world cinema, as they often contain both Western and uniquely Indian cinematic elements on all levels. It is a hybridity that is characterized by constant negotiation between India and the West. An important component of this hybridity is the merging of the West and East in unique third spaces.  The ethnographic concept of the third space was developed by Homi K. Bhabha (1994).  Third spaces are where mutually dependent colonizers and the colonized construct new cultural objects making us increasingly “aware of the construction of culture and the invention of tradition” (247). When masala films are viewed through an analytical lens that is informed by ethnography, they emerge as third spaces where the imagined diasporic Indian community is defined through the influences of Bollywood/the home country, the host country and itself.

The idea of the imagined community, first developed by Benedict Anderson, is another important ethnographic concept that will be utilized, and which will be emphasized in this study by only considering the song and dance numbers from Bollywood masala films that are set both in India and the West. This paper will begin with a brief consideration of third cinema in India and look at the emergence of masala Bollywood films within this context. The remainder of the paper will analyze a number of song and dance numbers in Bollywood masala films in order to illustrate that Bollywood films not only act as third spaces for power dynamic negotiations between India and the West, but also function as third spaces where the ‘imagined communities’ of the Indian diaspora define themselves vis a vis both their adopted homelands and their national center, India.  It will be shown that even though the hybrid diasporic entities that emerge differ from film to film, they all belong to the same visual culture: the masala song and dance routine.

  Chapter 1

Third cinema is world cinema generally coming from so-called third world countries.  Third cinema is seen as standing in opposition to imperialism and colonialism, which means that it contrasts significantly with the commercialized film industry of America.  One of the main characteristics of third cinema is that it is politically driven. This can be seen in the definitions of first and third cinemas developed by Solanas and Gettino, the inventors of the term third cinema. They defined first cinema, as “big spectacle cinema”, whereas they defines third cinema as “democratic, national, popular cinema” (in Tyrell, 1999, p. 261)  Third cinema has strong roots in India. The pioneer of third cinema or ‘new wave’ cinema in India was Bengali filmmaker, Satyajit Ray.  His1955 film Pather Panchal, which is about the life of the child Apu, who grows up in poverty, is considered India’s exemplary third cinema film.  The film is praised for its social realism and authenticity, and the manner in which it depicts the small joys of life. This film is also political and social, as it addresses the issue of poverty in India. The realistic depiction of poverty, a hallmark of third cinema, can be seen in the following clip from Pather Panchal.

At this time, the masala genre did not exist. New wave cinema reached its height in India in the 1970s.  New wave cinema went into decline for a number of reasons.  However, the largest factor was deregulation, which opened up India, including its film industry, to international competition.

While new wave cinema was in its twilight, a new Bollywood genre emerged—the masala. The Hindi Bollywood film industry had been around for nearly the entire 20th century.  However, it is the masala genre that has emerged as the most popular and recognizable Bollywood film type.  According to the founder of the masala genre, Manmohan Desai, “I want people to forget their misery. I want to take them into a dream world where there is no poverty, where there are no beggars, where fate is kind and god is busy looking after his flock” (Tyrell, 1999, p. 260). While masala films have remained relatively true to Desai’s description, this does not mean that they are not concerned with ideology. As Tyrell argues, “Bollywood films are not solely politically motivated, nor are they entirely devoid of nationalist/anti-colonialist content. They are once ‘escapist’ and ideologically loaded” (p. 261).  This illustrates that Bollywood films occupy a space that falls in between first world and third cinemas, as they are both profit driven and democratic, nationalistic endeavours.  Bollywood film can be viewed as a hybrid of these two very distinct film industries.

An analysis of the one the first song and dance numbers ever for a masala film reveals that these films reflect the complicated relationship between India and the West.  Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony is recognized as the first masala film.

In this clip, the negotiation between the West and India is clearly on display.  One way that this can be seen is in the clothing that the actors are wearing. The main character, Anthony Gonsalves, is dressed like a British gentleman. He has a top hat, white gloves and a three piece suit.  However, as he stumbles around making advances at the leading lady, his exaggerated mannerisms are meant to mock the idea of the British gentleman. The fact that most of the actors in this scene are dressed in Western clothing is another example of India’s meeting the West. Finally, another clearly hybrid element of this clip is the fact that Anthony Gonsalves sings in both English and Hindi. This scene displays how hybridity and third space are central to masala films, both of which will be discussed below. It also represents an early use of the masala song and dance number to deal with hybrid issues of identity; however, the diaspora is absent from this particular film.

This clip also provides insight into the beginnings of masala song and dance numbers. In this case, the scene itself is a wedding where people are dancing. Therefore, the masala song and dance number has not yet taken on its distinctive choreographed aesthetic where song and dance break out as they would in a stage musical. Instead, the song sung by Gonsalves is embedded in an environment where people were already dancing.

  Chapter 2

When investigating Bollywood films in relation to the Indian diaspora, the ethnographical  concept of the imagined community is important. The idea of the imagined community was developed by Benedict Anderson with a particular focus on the national community, which he sees as a social construct, confined within the borders of the nation state. For Anderson (1981), the idea of a diasporic imagined community is problematic because it bounds people to the imagined national community, cementing difference and assigning people a priori identities. However, according to Stuart Hall (1990), “The diaspora experience as I intend it here is defined not by essence of purity, but by the recognition of a necessary heterogeneity and diversity; by a conception of identity which lives with and through, not despite difference; by hybridity.  Diaspora identities are those which are constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference” (p. 235). Hall’s prospective on the diaspora is informed by heterogeneity, diversity and hybridity.  Therefore, the diaspora is not this static, pre-determined and insular entity.  Instead, the diaspora is fluid and dynamic.  Although the diaspora is connected to its homeland, it is no way confined by it, as Anderson suggests. The imagined community of the diaspora is a hybrid that is created through the complex interactions that take place in the third space.

The size of the Indian diasporic community means that Hall’s understanding of the imagined community is immensely applicable to masala Bollywood films. Hall talks about diversity when it comes to how diasporic identities are formed.  When considering the presentation of Indian diasporic identity in the context of Bollywood films, there is a real negotiation between Bollywood and the diasporic community.  According to O’Neill (2013), many diasporic films “export an image of Indianness that negotiates tensions between homeland and diaspora and underscores India’s cultural authority for its imagined community of viewers” (p. 254).  This quote overstates the power of India/Bollywood in this relationship, but is accurate in terms of its description of the diaspora/Bollywood relationship as one of negotiation. Bollywood films that are partially or fully set in the diaspora are successful if they have good diasporic box office results. Therefore, these films need to offer depictions of the imagined diasporic community that are relatable to that community. However, relatable does not equate to homogenous.  Within the diaspora, there are multiple understandings of the diaspora’s characteristics, which will be seen throughout this investigation.  In the 1995 film, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jeanie, one negotiated understanding of the diasporic imagined community is on full display. In this film, although the lead characters are born and raised abroad, have adopted Western youth culture as well as attire, their values, especially those connected to morality, are Indian. As Mishra (2002) argues, in this film, the imagined diasporic community is the site where values and morality are contested, but in the end “Indian values are triumphantly maintained” (p. 259).

This clip clearly shows the two main characters wearing Western clothing, and engaging in flirtation with there being no chaperon present.  This particular clip fronts Western cultural practices, and it is the scene where the couple fall in love. However, the father of Simran, the female lead, has made an arranged marriage for her daughter.  Even though Simran tries to convince Raj, the male lead, to elope with her, he declares that he will only marry her with her father’s permission, which shows his commitment to traditional Indian values.  Raj’s desire to maintain traditional Indian practices within the diaspora is reflected in the following song and dance number.

This particular clip represents one very recognizable type of masala song and dance, which involves the love interests moving through a montage scene, in which they sing, and which involves dance and action.  The amount of choreographed  These scenes generally bring the couple closer together, and advance the plot. They are a recognizable component of masala visual culture.

In this scene, the actors and dancers are wearing traditional Indian clothes.  Within the context of masala films, this scene represents a traditional courtship. The fact that Simran’s father agrees to the couples marriage shows the triumph of traditional Indian values in an aesthetically Western diaspora. Therefore, in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jeanie, one version of the imagined Indian diaspora community is presented.  This community that is fully embedded within the aesthetics and popular culture of its host, but still maintains cultural values of the homeland. However, it is important to highlight that this just one of many depictions of the diaspora in masala films that contribute to defining the imagined diasporic Indian community. Therefore, through the familiar visual culture of the masala song and dance number, a specific depiction of the Indian diaspora is given.

This particular song and dance number belongs to the most recognizable type of masala song and dance number, which involves a large number of dancers with the male dancers on one side and the female dancers on the other side. As with this particular clip, the dancing and singing goes back and forth between the male troupe and the female troupe.

 Chapter 3

Hybrid cultural formations are negotiated, formed and reformed in what Homi K. Bhabha has referred to as the third space. The third space is where negotiations between the centre and the periphery take place. The meeting of these cultural entities opens up the third space where these two forces interact and negotiate on relatively neutral ground resulting in the manifestation of a cultural product that is unique, while containing elements from all of the entities involved. According to Edward Soja (1996), the third space is where “everything comes together . . .subjectivity and objectivity, the abstract and the concrete, the real and the imagined, the knowable and the unimaginable, the repetitive and the differential, structure and agency, mind and body, consciousness and the unconscious, the disciplined and the transdisciplinary, everyday life and unending history” (p. 57). Therefore, the third space locates the total and complete interaction between entities with this interaction creating new cultural objects. The idea of the third space is immensely important for giving agency to cultural groups that hegemonic theory sees as the subjugated. While the interactions that take place within the third space involve power imbalances, the third space accords the lesser parties real influence. Therefore, the hybrid cultural entities that emerge contain elements from all the involved parties.

This concept of the third space is particularly evident in the film Kabhi Kushi Kabhie   Gham (K3G), which is set in New Delhi and London, the former the capital of the colonized and the latter, the capital of the colonizer. The historical meeting between the two opened up a third space with one manifestation of this third space being the Indian diaspora living in the U.K.

Hall (1990) defines the diaspora as both diverse and in flux. An important component contributing to this is the power dynamics that exist between the host country, the home country and the diaspora with these dynamics informing “the abstract and the concrete, (and) the real and the imagined” (p. 235), within third space formations. In K3G the concept of the third space manifests concretely in the physical space of Waddesdon Manor, which can be seen in the song and dance sequence of the film known as Rohan’s return.

As it can be seen, Waddesdon Manor is featured prominently in this short sequence.  As Rohan’s helicopter lands, a panoramic view of the state is presented.  The massiveness of the estate is highlighted by Rohan’s extended run from the helicopter to the mansion. The song and dance that is taken inside the mansion does not reflect third space formation, as the music, dance and clothing are all Indian.  Instead, the third space is the physical space of Waddesdon Manor, because in the film, the manor is depicted as the Rachand family home. Therefore, this particular third space is a nationalistic reclamation and exertion of power.  As Tyrell (1999) argues, “Bollywood films are not solely politically motivated, nor are they entirely devoid of nationalist/anti-colonialist content.  They are once ‘escapist’ and ideologically loaded” (p. 261).   The transportation of a British symbol of wealth and power to Indian family is a strong example of nationalist/anti-colonialist content, which speaks to Bollywood’s ability to still contain elements of third cinema.  The appropriation of Waddesdon Manor brings together the former colonizer, the formerly colonized and the Indian diaspora, and turns the historical power dynamic on its head.  Waddesdon Manor as a third space goes beyond cultural reclamation; instead, Bollywood is appropriating symbols of British power and making them its own. These types of presentations of Indian nationalism and power are important for the Indian diaspora, even though they are presented in what might be considered imagined third spaces. According to Kao and Rozario (2008), “The creation of imagined space has a particular resonance for diasporic audiences, who . . . are members of an ‘imagined community’, dislocated from nation and establishing communal solidarity through shared cultural practices and media.  The coincidence of ‘imagined space’ and ‘imagined community’ intimates a connection between Bollywood and its diasporic audiences defined by the act of imagination” (p. 314). Through this specific masala song and dance number the diaspora is depicted as powerful and worthy of admiration. Again, this takes place through an established visual culture.

This particular masala song and dance number takes on another recognizable form.  This type of song and dance number backgrounds the choreographed dance routine, while it foregrounds other action.  This can be seen specifically starting 45 seconds into the clip.  This type of masala aesthetic is an established component of the visual culture of masala.

   Chapter 4

An important ethnographic concept mentioned by Hall in his explanation of the diaspora is hybridity. Hybridity is the cultural formation that is the result of negotiation and construction between two or more entities within a third space.  In the case of Bollywood films, this third space is the space of negotiation between India, the imagined diasporic Indian community, and the Western host country and culture.  In particular, the song and dance sequences in the films under consideration greatly reflect a hybrid product of third space negotiation with this product being one version of the diaspora. They bring together Indian and Western influences and create something uniquely new, which speaks to the identities of many within the Indian diaspora with these identities reflecting change, difference and fluidity, which coincides with Hall’s understanding of the diaspora. This bringing together of Indian and Western cultural elements is recognized by many commentators.  Tyrrell (1999) states that “the ‘picturisation’ of a single film song” is hybrid in nature as “hero and heroine oscillate between Eastern and Western dress in a rapid series of costume swaps as they dance and mime to music which is itself a hybrid of Eastern and Western style” (p. 261).  

One film that strongly reflects this complicated hybridity is Kal Ho Naa Ho (KNKH) with its “Pretty Woman” song and dance number providing a plethora of material for analyzing hybridity.

Video Link:

https://youtu.be/70QpN7DvaK4

 As the video attests to, the “Pretty Woman” song and dance number is a mash-up of India meets America. Whereas in K3G, the imagined diasporic community is a hybrid of Western popular culture and Indian values and tradition, the hybrid diasporic community as presented in KNKH involves Indian pop culture’s complete commingling with American pop culture to create a unique hybrid.  However, this particular video clip depicts a complete rejection of traditional Indian values and culture, which can be seen at the beginning of the clip when the film’s young Western-dressed male protagonist, Aman Mathur, mocks three older ladies in traditional India dress, who were worshipping the Goddess Saraswati. In fact, even though this song and dance number contains close to one hundred participants, the three older ladies are the only people dressed in traditional Indian clothing.  It can be argued that this particular aspect of the imagined diaspora in KNKH in no way represents a hybrid ideal. According to Tyrell (1999), “Bollywood can be read both as defending itself and Indian values against the West, and as a dangerous courier of Western values to the Indian audience” (p. 261). In this case, it appears as if Bollywood is sending a message about the dangers of cultural assimilation with the main character completely rejecting tradition through the medium of familiar visual culture.

On the one hand, this video clip shows a diasporic identity that rejects tradition.  On the other hand, it shows Indian pop culture completely appropriating American pop culture to create a unique hybrid. This is clearly seen in the Masala-inspired remake of Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman.”  This rendition involves the commingling of Hindi pop, America rock, hip hop and rap with choreographed dance scenes that include classic masala moves, jazz dance, hip hop and breakdancing. This appropriation is similar to the appropriation of Waddesdon Manor in K3G, but at a popular culture level. Through taking an American rock and roll classic and turning into a Indian-infused Hybrid, Bollywood is displaying the massive influence that it has globally through the vehicle of the imagined diasporic community.  Therefore, the specific diasporic community depicted through the imagery of masala song and dance is one that warns of the dangers of Western assimilation, while at the same time, turning the tables on American popular culture hegemony. This diasporic community takes American popular culture and subjects it to an extensive Indian make-over through the utilization of the specific visual culture of the masala song and dance number.

This Pretty Woman clip is clearly part of the masala aesthetic. It involves the actor singing in a romantic context, and it involves a great deal of complex choreography. However, it is also unique in the way that it so hybrid in its mixing of masala and Western elements. The fact that it is a hybrid, yet so recognizably masala speaks to the flexibility of the masala genre and provides insight into the ability of the masala to act as the third space of hybridity.

  Conclusion

Ethnographic concepts provide excellent tools for the analysis of media.  After a brief historical presentation of third cinema within the Indian context, this particular media across cultures study employed the ethnographic concepts of imagined diasporic community, third space and hybridity in order to elucidate on the relationship between Bollywood masala films and the Indian diaspora. It was argued that Bollywood masala films that have a diasporic element help to define the imagined diasporic Indian community with these films providing numerous different understandings of what the diaspora is.  This can be seen through the various media clips embedded in this study, which were analyzed using the ethnographic concepts of hybridity and third space. Third space was defined as the space where negotiations between the centre and the periphery takes place.  Third space is where the relevant cultural entities  interact and negotiate on relatively neutral ground resulting in the manifestation of a cultural product that is unique, while containing elements from all of the entities involved.  Hybridity is the unique product that emerges from third space negotiations. What emerges from this is a specific and recognizable visual culture that is entertaining, but also deeply ladened with meaning vis a vis defining the imagined diasporic Indian community.  As discussed above, the defining of this imagined community is not homogenous; instead, different films present the imagined diasporic Indian community in different ways.  These different presentations emerge from third space negotiation that involve the home county, the host country and the diasporic community. However, despite the significant difference in this regard, these various depictions are places within the same visual culture: the masala song and dance number.

   References

Anderson, Benedict. (1983). Imagined Communities. New York: Verso.

Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.

Hall, Stuart. (1990). “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” In J. Rutherford (ed.), Identity: Community,       Culture, Difference. London: Lawrence & Wishort.

Kao, K., & Rozario, R. (2008). “Imagined Spaces: The implications of song and dance for Bollywood’s diasporic communities.” Continuum, 22(3), 313-326. Mishra, Vijay. 2002. Bollywood Cinema: Temples of Desire. New York: Routledge

O’Neill, P. (2013). “Imagining global India: Bollywood's transnational appeal.” Continuum:Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 27(2), 254-266

Shim, D. (2006). “Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture in Asia.” Media Culture Society 28(1), 25-44. Soja, Edward. (1996). Thirdspace. New York: Blackwell.

Tyrrell, H. (1999). “Hollywood versus Bollywood: Battle of the  Dream Factories.” In Tracy Skelton and Tim Allen (eds.), Culture and Global Change. New York: Routledge, 260-66, 272-273.

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An Ethnographic Investigation of Hybird Bollywood Song and Dance Nunbers

Introduction

Bollywood has been making movies since the 1930s. Although the numbers are debated, today Bollywood is either the second or third most prolific film industry in the world. The term Bollywood refers to the Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. This media across cultures project will focus on the song and dance numbers of Bollywood films with a methodological lens informed by ethnography. Ethnography is the scientific investigation of people and their cultures. Ethnography tries to understand how people live their lives and how they construct shared cultural meaning. In addition, ethnography locates spaces where shared cultural understandings are negotiated and formulated. This media studies project will utilize ethnographic concepts to analyze the song and dance numbers of Bollywood films. One of these concepts is the concept of hybridity, which can be defined as the commingling of cultural elements from different cultures—the colonizer and the colonized— resulting in the construction of new cultural objects derived from the integration of these elements (Yazdiah, 31). Hybridity manifests in a number of different ways when the song and dance number of Bollywood films are considered. When film theory is considered, Bollywood films emerge as a hybrid between first world and third word cinema, as they often contain both Western and uniquely Indian cinematic elements on all levels. As Tyrell argues, “Bollywood films are not solely politically motivated, nor are they entirely devoid of nationalist/anti-colonialist content. They are once ‘escapist’ and ideologically loaded” (261). As a result, Bollywood films can paradoxically be seen as both defending Indian values against Western intrusion, and “as a dangerous courier of Western values to the Indian audience” (261). It is a hybridity that is characterized by constant negotiation between India and the West. An important component of this hybridity is the merging of the West and East in unique third spaces. The ethnographic concept of the third space was developed by Homi K. Bhabha. Third spaces are where mutually dependent colonizers and the colonized construct new cultural objects making us increasingly “aware of the construction of culture and the invention of tradition” (247). When the song and dance numbers of many Bollywood masala films are viewed through an analytical lens that is informed by ethnography, it can be seen that they not only act as third spaces for power dynamic negotiations between India and the West, but also function as third spaces where the ‘imagined communities’ of the Indian diaspora define themselves vis a vis both their adopted homelands and their national center, India. The idea of the imagined community, first developed by Benedict Anderson, is another important ethnographic concept that will be utilized in this study. This will be emphasized in this media analysis by only considering the song and dance numbers from Bollywood Masala films that are set both in India and the West. This paper will begin with a brief consideration of third cinema in India and look at the emergence of masala Bollywood films within this context. The remainder of the paper will analyze a number of song and dance numbers in Bollywood masala films in order to illustrate that Bollywood films not only act as third spaces for power dynamic negotiations between India and the West, but also function as third spaces where the ‘imagined communities’ of the Indian diaspora define themselves vis a vis both their adopted homelands and their national center, India.

Chapter 1

Third cinema is world cinema generally coming from so-called third world countries. Third cinema is seen as standing in opposition to imperialism and colonialism, which means that it contrasts significantly with the commercialized film industry of America. One of the main characteristics of third cinema is that it is politically driven. This can be seen in the definitions of first and third cinemas developed by Fernando Solanas and Octavio Gettino, the inventors of the term third cinema. They defined first cinema, as “big spectacle cinema”, whereas they defines third cinema as “democratic, national, popular cinema” (p. 261) Third cinema has strong roots in India. The pioneer of third cinema or ‘new wave’ cinema in India was Bengali filmmaker, Satyajit Ray. His film 1955 film Pather Panchal, which is about the life of the child Apu, as he grows up in poverty. The film is praised for its social realism and authenticity, and the manner in which it depicts the small joys of life. This film is also political and social, as it addresses the issue of poverty in India.

New wave cinema reached its height in India in the 1970s. Georgekutty comments on the societal focus of these films, “‘For example in Ankur and Nishant directed by Shyam Benegal, the theme is the feudal oppression of a people and the germination of resistance. In Party, directed by Govind Nihalani, the theme is the crisis of values in the middle class environment; in Ardh Staya it is the cry for honesty and integrity in contemporary public life; in Aaghat the question is the means and ends in trade union practices; in Rao Saheb it is the plight of women in the context of tradition and colonial experience of modernity; in Paar the tyranny of the landlords”(). New wave cinema went into decline for a number of reasons. However, the largest factor was deregulation, which opened up India, including its film industry, to international competition.

While new wave cinema was in its twilight, a new Bollywood genre of film emerged—the masala. The Hindi Bollywood film industry had been around for nearly the entire 20th century. However, it is the masala genre that has emerged as the most popular and recognizable Bollywood film type. According to the founder of the masala genre, Manmohan Desai, “I want people to forget their misery. I want to take them into a dream world where there is no poverty, where there are no beggars, where fate is kind and god is busy looking after his flock” (). While masala films have remained relatively true to Desai’s description, this does not mean that they are not concerned with ideology. As Tyrell argues, “Bollywood films are not solely politically motivated, nor are they entirely devoid of nationalist/anti-colonialist content. They are once ‘escapist’ and ideologically loaded” (p. 261). This illustrates that Bollywood films occupy a space that falls in between first world and third cinemas. According to Tyrell, “Bollywood can be read both as defending itself and Indian values against the West, and as a dangerous courier of Western values to the Indian audience . . . A constant process of negotiation between East and West takes place in Bollywood films, operating in both terms of style (narrative continuity, mise-en-scene, acting styles), and in terms of content (the values and ideas expressed in the films). Indian cinematic style negotiates the cinematic traditions of Classical Hollywood, while its content addresses the ideological heritage of colonisation” (p. 261). Therefore, Bollywood film falls between first world cinema and third cinema, as it is both profit driven and a democratic, nationalistic endeavour. Bollywood film can be viewed as a hybrid of these two very distinct film industries.

An analysis of the one the first song and dance numbers ever for a masala film reveals that these films reflect the complicated relationship between India and the West. Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony is recognized as the first masala film.

In this clip, the negotiation between the West and India is clearly on display. One way that this can be seen is in the clothing that the actors are wearing. The main character, Anthony Gonsalves, is dressed like a British gentleman. He has a top hat, white gloves and a three piece suit. However, as he stumbles around making advances at the leading lady, his exaggerated mannerisms are meant to mock the idea of the British gentleman. The fact that most of the actors in this scene are dressed in Western clothing is another example of India meeting the West. Finally, another clearly hybrid element of this clip is the fact that Anthony Gonsalves sings in both English and Hindi.

Chapter 2

When investigating Bollywood films in relation to the Indian diaspora, the concept of the imagined community is important. The idea of the imagined community was developed by Benedict Anderson with a particular focus on the national community confined within the borders of the nation state. According to Anderson, the national community is a socially constructed entity that in reality is not a community at all. Anderson’s concept of the imagined community can be transposed to diasporic communities, which he also sees as unreal social constructs. For Anderson, the idea of a diasporic imagined community is problematic because it bounds people to the imagined national community in question. When this happens, it cements difference and assigns people a priori identities. For Anderson, the existence of an imagined diasporic community means that this community is separated from its host community with an identity that is detached from immediate social realities. However, when diasporic imagined communities are considered, the formation of diasporic identity needs to be removed from Anderson’s rather static perspective on nationalism. According to Stuart Hall, “The diaspora experience as I intend it here is defined not by essence of purity, but by the recognition of a necessary heterogeneity and diversity; by a conception of identity which lives with and through, not despite difference; by hybridity. Diaspora identities are those which are constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference” (p. 235). Hall’s prospective on the diaspora is informed by heterogeneity, diversity and hybridity. Therefore, the diaspora is not this static, pre-determined and insular entity. Instead, the diaspora is a fluid and dynamic. Although the diaspora is connected to its homeland, it is no way confined by it, as Anderson suggests. The imagined community of the diaspora is a hybrid that is created through the complex interactions that take place in the third space.

The size of the Indian diasporic community means that Hall’s understanding of the imagined community is immensely applicable to masala Bollywood films. Hall talks about diversity when it comes to how diasporic identities are formed. When considering the presentation of Indian diasporic identity in the context of Bollywood films, there is a real negotiation between Bollywood and the diasporic community. According to O’Neill, many diasporic films “export an image of Indianness that negotiates tensions between homeland and diaspora and underscores India’s cultural authority for its imagined community of viewers” (254). There are two points to consider here. The first point is that this quote overstates the power of India/Bollywood in this relationship. Bollywood films that are partially or fully set in the diaspora are successful if they have good diasporic box office results. Therefore, these films need to offer depictions of the imagined diasporic community that are relatable to that community. However, relatable does not equate to homogenous. Within the diaspora, there are multiple understandings of the diaspora’s characteristics, which will be seen throughout this investigation. In the 1995 film, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jeanie, the hybridity of the diasporic imagined community is on full display. In this film, although the lead characters are born and

raised abroad, have adopted Western youth culture as well as attire, their values, especially those connected to morality, are Indian. As Mishra (2002) argues, in this film, the imagined diasporic community is the site where values and morality are contested, but in the end “Indian values are triumphantly maintained” (259).

This clip clearly shows the two main characters wearing Western clothing, engaging in flirtation with there being no chaperon present. This particular clip fronts Western cultural practices, and it is the scene where the couple fall in love. However, the father of Simran, the female lead, has made an arranged marriage for her daughter. Even though Simran tries to convince Raj, the male lead, to elope with her, he declares that he will only marry her with her father’s permission. Raj’s desire to maintain traditional Indian practices within the diaspora is reflected in the following song and dance number.

In this scene, the actors and dancers are wearing traditional Indian clothes. Within the context of masala films, this scene represents a traditional courtship. The fact that Simran’s father agrees to the couples marriage shows the triumph of traditional Indian values in aesthetically Western diaspora.

Chapter 3

Hybrid cultural formations are negotiated, formed and reformed in what Homi K. Bhabha has referred to as the third space. The third space is where negotiations between the centre and the periphery takes place. The meeting of these cultural entities opens up the third space where these two forces interact and negotiate on relatively neutral ground resulting in the manifestation of a cultural product that is unique, while containing elements from all of the entities involved. According to Edward Soja, the third space is where “everything comes together . . .subjectivity and objectivity, the abstract and the concrete, the real and the imagined, the knowable and the unimaginable, the repetitive and the differential, structure and agency, mind and body, consciousness and the unconscious, the disciplined and the transdisciplinary, everyday life and unending history” (57). Therefore, the third space is the total and complete interaction between entities with this interaction creating new cultural objects. The idea of the third space is immensely important for giving agency to cultural groups that hegemonic theory sees as the subjugated. While the interactions that take place within the third space involve power imbalances, the third space accords the lesser parties real influence. Therefore, the hybrid cultural entities that emerge contain elements from all the involves parties.

When analyzing masala films in the context of the imagined community of the India diaspora, the concept of third space can be extended to include actual physical spaces where cultures meet and meanings are negotiated.

Chapter 4

An important concept mentioned by Hall in his explanation of the diaspora is hybridity. Hybridity is the cultural formation that is the result of negotiation and construction between two or more entities According to Shim, “globalization encourages local peoples to rediscover the ‘local’ that they have neglected or forgotten in their drive towards Western-imposed modernization during the past decades” (p. 27). This statement from Shim brings together third space and hybridity, and highlights the important role that globalization plays in the opening of the third space and the emergence of hybrid cultural formations. In the case of Bollywood films, this third space is the space of negotiation between between India, Western-driven forces of globalization, and the Indian diasporic imagined community. In particular, the song and dance sequences in the films under consideration greatly reflect a hybrid product of the third space negotiation. They bring together Indian and Western influences and create something uniquely new, which speaks to the identities of many within the Indian diaspora with these identities reflecting change, difference and fluidity, which coincides with Hall’s understanding of the diaspora. This bringing together of Indian and Western cultural elements is recognized by many commentators. Tyrrell states that “the ‘picturisation’ of a single film song” is hybrid in nature as “hero and heroine oscillate between Eastern and Western dress in a rapid series of costume swaps as they dance and mime to music which is itself a hybrid of Eastern and Western style” (p. 261). Moreover, Kao and Rozario argue that Bollywood, “draws upon Indian performance practices, many of which find a natural accord with the styles of Hollywood. Furthermore, Priya Jaikumar points out such components as “‘the inalienable relationship between drama, music and dance’ and preponderance of burlesque routines integrated with dramatic, tragic, and action-oriented episodes’ can be found in more ancient theatrical and epic Indian forms, as indeed they are in Hollywood. Consequently, the formation of Bollywood is a process at once entirely Indian and cross-cultural” (p. 313). Therefore, as these commentators confirm, the song and dance numbers in Indian film are natural sites to analyze hybridity.

Conclusion

Works Cited

Anderson, Benedict. (1983). Imagined Communities. New York: Verso.

Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.

Hall, Stuart. (1990). “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” In J. Rutherford (ed.), Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. London: Lawrence & Wishort.

Kao, K., & Rozario, R. (2008). “Imagined Spaces: The implications of song and dance for Bollywood’s diasporic communities.” Continuum, 22(3), 313-326.

Shim, D. (2006). “Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture in Asia.” Media

Culture Society 28(1), 25-44.

Soja, Edward. (1996). Thirdspace. New York: Blackwell.

Tyrrell, H. (1999). “Hollywood versus Bollywood: Battle of the Dream Factories.” In Tracy Skelton and Tim Allen (eds.), Culture and Global Change. New York: Routledge, 260-66, 272-273.

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An ethnographic and Semiotic Investigation of Hybrid Bollywood Song and Dance Numbers

Bollywood has been making movies since the 1930s. Although the numbers are debated, today Bollywood is either the second or third most prolific film industry in the world. The term Bollywood refers to the Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. This media across cultures project will focus on the song and dance numbers of Bollywood films with a methodological lens informed by both semiotics and ethnography. Ethnography is the scientific investigation of people and their concomitant cultures. Ethnography endeavours to understand how people live their lives and how they construct shared cultural meaning. In addition, ethnography locates spaces where shared cultural understandings are negotiated and formulated. Semiotics studies how meaning is created and communicated with a particular focus on signs and symbols, which is extremely important when investigating the construction of shared cultural meaning. Semiotics covers a number of fields; however, in this investigation, semiotics will be utilized in the analysis of a cultural product: the song and dance numbers of Bollywood films. Central to this investigation is the concept of hybridity, which can be defined as the commingling of cultural elements from different cultures—the colonizer and the colonized— resulting in the construction of new cultural objects derived from the integration of these elements (Yazdiah, 31). Hybridity manifests in a number of different ways when the song and dance number of Bollywood films are considered. When film theory is considered, Bollywood films emerge as a hybrid between first world and third word cinema, as they often contain both Western and uniquely Indian cinematic elements on all levels. As Tyrell argues, “Bollywood films are not solely politically motivated, nor are they entirely devoid of nationalist/anti-colonialist content. They are once ‘escapist’ and ideologically loaded” (261). As a result, Bollywood films can paradoxically be seen as both defending Indian values against Western intrusion, and “as a dangerous courier of Western values to the Indian audience” (261). It is a hybridity that is characterized by constant negotiation between India and the West. An important component of this hybridity is the merging of the West and East in unique imagined spaces, which also function as meaningful and identity forming third spaces. According to Bhabha, third spaces are where mutually depended colonizers and the colonized construct new cultural objects making us increasingly “aware of the construction of culture and the invention of tradition” (247). When the song and dance numbers of many Bollywood films are viewed through an analytical lens that is informed both by ethnography and semiotics, it can be seen that they not only act as third spaces for power dynamic negotiations between India and the West, but also function as third spaces where the ‘imagined communities’ of the Indian diaspora define themselves vis a vis both their adopted homelands and their national center, India. This will be emphasized in this media analysis by only considering the song and dance numbers from Bollywood films that are set both in India and the West.

Works Cited

Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.

Tyrrell, H. (1999). “Hollywood versus Bollywood: Battle of the Dream Factories.” In Tracy Skelton and Tim Allen (eds.), Culture and Global Change. New York: Routledge, 260-66, 272-273.

Yazdiha, H. (2010). “Conceptualizing Hybridity: Deconstructing Boundaries through the Hybrid.” Formations, 1(1), 31-38.