Bollywood's India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Contemporary India

Bollywood’s India explores the nature of mainstream Hindi cinema, now best known as ‘Bollywood’, and explains why it favours non-realistic depictions of everyday life in India. Rachel Dwyer argues that these interpretations of India over the last two decades are the most reliable guide to understanding the nation’s changing dreams and hopes, fears and anxieties.
Her book shows how escapism and entertainment function in Bollywood cinema, and what that reveals about Indian life and society. It looks at the ways in which Hindi cinema has imagined and portrayed the unity and diversity of India – what its people believe and feel; their views on religion, caste and politics; life at home and in public. Bollywood’s India is based on twenty years of watching, teaching and writing about Hindi films, working with filmmakers and discussions with critics and fans. Featuring 80 striking images, the book has much to say to scholars and students of Indian cinema who are curious about the ways in which aspects of Indian life and culture are depicted on screen, as well as to the general reader and fan of global cinema.