The document explores the relationship between Indian cinema and popular culture, emphasizing its role in societal communication and shaping cultural values. It discusses various elements like the significance of Bollywood, popular films, item songs, and the impact of YouTube and OTT platforms on traditional media. Additionally, it highlights how these cultural phenomena influence youth perceptions and behaviors in contemporary India.

1. Indian Cinema
and Pop culture
Prepared by - Hina Parmar
Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

2. Personal Information
★ Name - Hina Parmar
★ Roll No - 10
★ Sem - 3
★ Enrollment no - 4069206420220021
★ Batch - 2022-24
★ Email - hinaparmar612@gmail.com
★ Subject - Indian Cinema and Pop culture
★ Paper code - 22410
★ Paper no - 205A
★ Paper - Cultural Studies
★ Submitted to - Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

3. Points to ponder
❖ What is Popular Culture ?
❖ Definitions of Popular Culture
❖ Indian Cinema
❖ Popular Movies
❖ Item songs in Indian Popular Movies
❖ YouTube as popular culture in India
❖ Impact of OTT on traditional mode of entertainment
❖ Sports and Indian Culture in Popular Film
❖ Conclusion
❖ References

4. What is Popular Culture ?
❖ Popular culture (or "pop culture") refers in general to the traditions and
material culture of a particular society.
❖ In the modern West, pop culture refers to cultural products such as
music, art, literature, fashion, dance, film, cyberculture, television, and
radio that are consumed by the majority of a society's
population.Popular culture is those types of media that have mass
accessibility and appeal.
❖ The term "popular culture" was coined in the mid-19th century,
and it referred to the cultural traditions of the people, in contrast
to the "official culture" of the state or governing classes. (Crossman)

5. Definitions of Popular Culture
❖ In his wildly successful textbook "Cultural Theory and Popular Culture"
(now in its 8th edition), British media specialist John Storey offers six
different definitions of popular culture. Here are two definitions-
❖ Popular culture is simply culture that is widely favored or well-liked by
many people: it has no negative connotations.
❖ Pop culture is negotiated: partly imposed on by the dominant classes, and
partly resisted or changed by the subordinate classes. Dominants can create
culture but the subordinates decide what they keep or discard.
(Crossman)

6. Indian Cinema
❖ Indian mass-market movies are the most important way to communicate
in Indian society.
❖ in 1913 with the movie "Raja Harish Chandra," cinema has been the most
popular and most powerful way to communicate with people across India.
Film: It was a silent movie and had a mythological background.
❖ Alam Ara was the first movie made by Indian cinema in 1931.This movie
set the stage for the rest of Indian cinema.
❖ About 800 to 1000 movies are made in India every year, which is more
than double the number of films Hollywood makes each year.
❖ A big part of the Indian movie industry is called "Bollywood." It mostly
makes movies in Hindi, which is a language that people speak. It is based
in Mumbai, which is now known as Bombay. (Ahemad)

7. 7
Popular Movies
❖ Rang De Basanti (2006) - Creating a Nationalism in Young People, by This movie was
released on January 26, 2006, which happens to be India's Republic Day. It shows how
history can be shown in modern choreography.
❖ Mother India (1957) - A Saga That Portrays The character Sacrificing Indian Mother ,
Mehboob Khan made a movie about a widow, played by Nargis, who was a mother of two
who was struggling to raise her kids, Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar, in the midst of
poverty, ignorance, and grief.
❖ Taare Zameen Par (2007) - Appreciating Special Skills This movie is about dyslexia,
and it was written by Amole Gupte and Deepa Bhatia. It was directed by the super-
talented Ajay Devgan. Conclusions and Ideas for the Future The study shows how
realistic movies influence and shape social morals and shape the society, but at the same
time, they get input from the same people who watch them. They think and feel about
social issues in our society based on how they're shown in system games.(Ahemad)

8. 8
❖ Because of the demands of the format of radio or music television, for instance,
most popular songs are three to five minutes, fitting into the format of the
distribution system.
❖ An item number or an item song, in Indian Cinema, is a musical performance that
has little to do with the film in which it appears, but is presented to showcase
beautiful dancing women in very revealing clothes, to lend support to the
marketability of the film.
❖ Item numbers are usually added to Indian movies in order to generate publicity by
featuring them in the trailers. The Item number, which does not contribute any
meaning to the plot of the film evidently, turns out to be an inevitable part of the
films. (M.)
Item songs in Indian Popular Movies

9. YOU CAN ALSO SPLIT YOUR CONTENT
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YouTube as popular culture in India
❖ YouTube, launched in 2005, a video-sharing network owned by Google, has become an
important element of Indian popular culture. YouTube has altered the way people consume,
produce, and share videos, with over 2 billion logged-in monthly active users globally,
generating a rich and diverse ecosystem of material that spans genres, languages, and
cultures. YouTube has grown in popularity in India, becoming a source of entertainment,
knowledge, and social connection for millions of users.
❖ Alternative to Traditional Media: YouTube offers a platform in addition to conventional
media outlets like television and films. Users can access content on-demand without being
constrained by geographical boundaries or planned programmes. The ability to select
information in accordance with personal interests has drawn interest from the Indian public,
particularly from the younger generation, which is increasingly abandoning traditional media
consumption patterns.(Ghosh)

10. 10
Impact of OTT on traditional mode of entertainment
❖ Over the Top (OTT) platforms are one such medium that has gained the
limelight the most. Social Distancing has led people to stay at home, where
the only entertainment are these platforms such as Netflix, Prime, Hotstar,
Voot, and many more. People spend most of their time now on these online
streaming mediums, steering the downfall of televisions.
❖ Online platforms come up with different genres like action, horror, drama, thriller,
and comedy. Youth uses more of these platforms to Binge Watch genres they prefer
the most. Unfortunately, television fails to provide such perks to its viewers.
❖ Recently, Flipkart launched a Flipkart video, where the viewers can watch
online for free. In the future, online platforms can be a platform through which
content creators can grow and gain popularity and a great place to expand and gain
expertise too. (Bohra)

11. 11
Sports and Indian Culture in Popular Film
❖ Lagaan - One of the most celebrated films about cricket is Lagaan. Set in
colonial times (1893), Lagaan offers a small vignette of life under British rule.
As villagers in Gujarat await the rains, District Collector Captain Andrew
Russell, a capricious young colonial servant, demands double tax for the year.
❖ Iqbal - Iqbal brings the sport into contemporary times. It is the inspirational
story of cricket-crazy Iqbal, a deaf-mute buffalo herder who practices bowling
in the fields as his buffaloes graze.
❖ Bhaag Milkha Bhaag - Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run Milkha Run) is a biopic of
India’s most famous Olympic runner, Milkha Singh.(Kripalani)

12. 12
Conclusion
❖ Young people are the primary consumers and users who characterize the difference between
dominant cultures, i.e., pop culture, and the decline of traditional culture. This is the reason that
validates the information in the present,resulting in the creation of new cultural value in society.
Young people are greatly influenced by foreign film and television productions and the variety of
Enterprise shows.(Singh)
❖ Film, television, and new media have positive effects on the popular cultural perception of young
people.(Singh)
❖ The case of item numbers is the same when considered its impact on the youth culture today. The
youngsters of the day do internalise the codes of fashion and dressing of the Bollywood actresses
and hold a sense of elitism on emulating the Bollywood dressing culture.(M.)

13. Ahemad, Irshad. “Social Impact of Cinema on Indian society: An Analysis from Reel to Real.” Journal of Emerging Technologies and
Innovative Research (JETIR), vol. 9, no. 2, 2022, p. 3.
Bohra, Raghavi. “Impact of OTT on traditional mode of entertainment.” The Times of India, 30 November 2021,
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/raghavi/impact-of-ott-on-traditional-mode-of-entertainment-39292/. Accessed
23 October 2023.
Crossman, Ashley. "Sociological Definition of Popular Culture." ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, https://www.thoughtco.com/popular-culture-
definition-3026453
GHOSH, ABHIJIT. “Emergence of Content Creation on YouTube as a Pop Culture Phenomenon in India.” International Research Journal
of Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies (IRJHIS), vol. 4, no. 6, 2023, p. 7. www.irjhis.com, https://doi-ds.org/doilink/06.2023-
79187335/IRJHIS2306013.
Kripalani, Coonoor. “Sports and Indian Culture in Popular Film.” Association for Asian Studies, vol. 21, no. -, 2016, -. Association for Asian
Studies, https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/sports-and-indian-culture-in-popular-film/.
M., Saumi Mary. “Indian Cinema and Pop Culture.” Epitome Journals, vol. 2, no. 5, 2016, p. 9.
Singh, Abhishek Kumar. “A Study of Popular Culture and its Impact on Youth’s Cultural Identity.” Creative Launcher, vol. 7, no. 6, 2022, p.
9.
References

14. Thank You
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