Postcolonial_Study_in_Bollywood.pptx

Postcolonial Study
in Bollywood
Present by Mansi Gujadiya

Personal Introduction
Name:- Mansi B. Gujadiya
Roll No.:- 12
Enrollment Number:-4069206420220013
Sem :- 3 (M.A)
Paper No.:-203
Paper Code:-22408
Paper Name:The Postcolonial Studies
Topic:-Postcolonial Study in Bollywood
Submitted to:- Department of English MKBU
Email:- mansigajjar10131@gmail.com

Introduction
● Postcolonial theory is a body of thought primarily
concerned with accounting for the political, aesthetic,
economic, historical, and social impact of European
colonial rule around the world in the 18th through the
20th century. Postcolonial theory takes many different
shapes and interventions.
● . The prefix “post” of “postcolonial theory” has been
rigorously debated, but it has never implied that
colonialism has ended.
● Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the
cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism
and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human
control and exploitation of colonized people and their
lands.
● Postcolonial theory has influenced the way we read
texts, the way we understand national and transnational
histories, and the way we understand the political
implications of our own knowledge as scholars.

About Movie
● Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in Indias a 2001 Indian Hindi-
language epic musical sports drama film written and directed
by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film was produced by Aamir
Khan, who stars alongside debutant Gracy Singh and British
actors Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne.
● Set in 1893, during the late Victorian period of India's
colonial British Raj, the film follows the inhabitants of a
village in Central India, who, burdened by high taxes and
several years of drought, are challenged by an arrogant
British Indian Army officer to a game of cricket as a wager to
avoid paying the taxes they owe.
● The villagers face the arduous task of learning a game that is
alien to them and play for a victory.

Subaltern Studies, Bollywood
and "Lagaan"
● the popular Bollywood films with their
appeal to the mass audience of uprooted
peasants, factory workers, the unemployed,
uneducated and poor can decolonise the
imagination of the Indian masses.
● It points out that "Lagaan's" efforts at
indigenisation and interrogation of prescribed
discourses of modernity and history deserve
credit for making possible the creation of
public debates within a culture where the
majority of the population is non-literate,
and is unable to partake in elite discussions of
culture and modernity.

Continue
● The male narrative voice at the end of Lagaan suggests that the film's
project has been to recover the experience the specific and distinctive
historical practice of a subaltern group,which has been lost or hidden
by the processes of elitist historiography .
● Rosalind O'Hanlon identifiers a basic model of explanation "(b)eneath
the tremendous variety in the empirical material"of the subaltern
studies historians "a long tradition of explanation,or a shorter term
economic dislocation,which provokes resistance and rebellion:
challenge to landlords or the agents of the state ,the appropriation or
destruction of the signs and instruments of their authority "Lagaan film
follows a similar pattern

Reading Cricket Fiction in The Times of Hindu
Nationalism and Farmer Suicides
● This is critique postcolonial theories attempt to read the cricket
nationalism portrayed in the Oscar-nominated Bollywood film Lagaan as
one that subverts the civilizing mission of British colonialism and also
restores the agency of the subaltern classes.
● Instead, it will argue that this cricket nationalism replicates Indian
bourgeois nationalism, which has no place for the subaltern in its
imaginary.
● It will also argue that the postcolonial thesis of decolonization and
indigenization of cricket supposedly achieved by Lagaan is marked by a
culturalism that does not take into account structural factors such as
capital, class and caste that dominate the institution of cricket in India.
● Finally, against postcolonial theories tendency to read a text in isolation
from the context, it will be contended that the cricket nationalism of the
film can only be understood by locating it in relation to the present socio-
historical conjuncture wherein forces of capital and nationalism are
hegemonic.

Resistance and Independence
● Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan is epic essay on cricket, the British Empire,
and the collective will of a group of village farmers, the film joined the
ranks of an elite group of Indian films to be nominated for an Academy
Award.
● Lagaan quickly acquired the label of a contemporary classic and revived
the career of film star Aamir Khan. It offers a detailed and critically
engaged study of the film.
● It covers areas such as the audience response to the film; representations
of the British Raj; colonialism and imperialism; song and dance as
narrative storytelling; the ideological value of religion; and the sports film
as a vehicle for exploring national concerns.

● In this film the colonizers are portrayed as the centre or the super power and
the colonized portrayed as the other.
● It gives the colonized the perception that they are inferior to the colonizer.
England was one of the superpowers during colonization in India, and this is
very evident in the film.
● For instance in the movie the antagonist, Captain Russell, is the decision maker
and the villagers have no other choice but to follow them. There is a cultural
transition that cuts through Gilli-danda to cricket.
● The rejection of white femininity is highly apprehensive here. The religious
story is added perhaps as an attempt to make sense of relationships that’s
about colonialism without use of colonialism.
● In other words it’s trying to disguise the facts that is about race and
colonialism by using religion as an alternate framework.
● Elizabeth represents the goodness of colonialism and Russell on the other hand
represents the evilness of colonialism. The winning of the match at the end,
constructs an overall view of decolonization.
Post colonial theme

Leadership lessons
1. Look at problems as opportunities
● The British ruler, Captain Russell, offered a deal to Bhuvan: The deal was to play a
cricket match against the Englishmen. If team Bhuvan won, they would waive the
taxes for the next three years. If the Britishers won, then they would triple the tax
amount. This was meant to mock the villagers who did not know the game.
Although extremely risky, Bhuvan accepted the challenge. He took it as an
opportunity to bring freedom from taxes for the entire province.
2. Have a clear vision
● When Bhuvan accepted the challenge, his vision was three years of no tax. The
villagers thought that it was impossible to learn an alien game and play to win it.
But that is how dreams start, don’t they? It always seems impossible until it’s done.
In this case, he not only dreamt about winning; he also put in place a clear strategy
to make his dream a reality.

Postcolonial and Political Resistance
● The post-colonial and political resistance
portrayed in the movie Lagaan. Before digging the
roots of the film, it is important to have a glance at
the historical and political background of India.
● The Britishers set foot in Indian soil for trade and
later they colonised the entire country. The British
Raj rule starts from 1858 to 1957. They looted the
wealth and prosperity of our nation and then made
us enslaved. They levied taxes and other unjust
practices. Though several battles were fought
between the kings and the Britishers.
● Lagaan is a recollection of the past history of India.
Set in a village area inhibited with locales, they play
their part by resisting the taxes imposed by the
Britishers by challenging them in a game of Cricket.
● Though this story is a fictional setting it was never
an alien concept.

Conclusion
● In conclusion, the film "Lagaan" serves as a
compelling lens through which to explore the
postcolonial narrative in Bollywood cinema.
● It not only captures the struggle for cultural
preservation and resistance against British colonial
rule but also symbolizes the broader quest for
independence in India.
● Through its cinematic elements and narrative,
"Lagaan" contributes to the discourse on
postcolonialism in Indian cinema, making it a
significant and thought-provoking work that
resonates with audiences both in India and around
the world.

Reference ● Ahmed, Omar, 'Once Upon a Time in India: Lagaan (Land Tax, 2001, Dir.
Ashutosh Gowariker)', Studying Indian Cinema (Liverpool, 2015; online edn,
Liverpool Scholarship Online, 25 Feb. 2021),
https://doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9781906733681.003.0013, accessed 18 Oct.
2023.
● Arjun P Kumar, Gopikrishnan S,Arun S. “Post Colonialism And Political
Resistance In Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India.” Turkish Journal of Computer
and Mathematics Education, vol. 12, 2021. file:///C:/Users/Admin/Downloads/2538-
Article%20Text-4803-1-10-20210415.pdf.
● Ashutosh Gowariker., director. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India. Sony Pictures
Classics SET Pictures Aamir Khan Productions, 2001.
● Chandrima Chakraborty. “Subaltern Studies, Bollywood and ‘Lagaan.’”
Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 38, no. 19, 2003, pp. 1879–84. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4413550. Accessed 18 Oct. 2023
● Elam, J Daniel . "Postcolonial Theory". In obo in Literary and Critical Theory. 18
Oct. 2023. <https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-
9780190221911/obo-9780190221911-0069.xml>.
● Nissim Mannathukkaren. “Reading cricket fiction in the times of hindu
nationalism and farmer suicides: Fallacies of textual interpretation.” The
International Journal of the History of Sports, September 2007,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238400924_Reading_cricket_fiction_i
n_the_times_of_hindu_nationalism_and_farmer_suicides_Fallacies_of_textual_i
nterpretation.

Postcolonial_Study_in_Bollywood.pptx

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