Skip to main content

The Ambiguities of Bollywood Conventions and the Reading of Transnationalism in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool

  • Chapter
  • 222 Accesses

Abstract

The postmillennial period of Bollywood cinema greets William Shakespeare, “welcoming him as the ‘man’ of the ‘millennium,’” resulting in a growth of Shakespeare’s authority in India. 2 The first Bollywood-acknowledged appropriations of Shakespearean works are Vishal Bhardwaj’s films ( Maqbool , 2003; Omkara , 2006). Simultaneously, Shakespeare has also proved an accommodating friend to the codes of Indian arty, parallel cinema in locally inflected productions such as In Othello (dir. Roysten Abel, 2003) or the movie The Last Lear (dir. Rituparno Ghosh, 2007). Film critic Randeep Ramesh compared this recent swing in interpre­tation of Shakespeare in India with the 1990s Hollywood period in which innumerable Shakespearean adaptations were produced. 3

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Alter, Stephen. Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief: Inside the World of Indian Moviemaking. New York: Harcourt / Harvest Books, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appadurai, Arjun. “Spectral Housing and Urban Cleansing: Notes on Millennial Mumbai,” Public Culture 12. 3 (2000). 627–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banaji, Shakuntala. Reading Bollywood: The Young Audience and Hindi Films. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bharucha, Rustom. In the Name of the Secular: Contemporary Cultural Activism in India . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhaskar, Ira and Richard Allen, eds. Islamicate Cultures of Bombay Cinema. New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunette, Peter. “Maqbool’s Review,” Screen International 1430 (Nov. 21, 2003 ). 30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, Mark Thornton. Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, Mark Thornton. Filming Shakespeare in the Global Marketplace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Burt, Richard. “Mobilizing Foreign Shakespeares in Media.” Shakespeare in Hollywood, Asia and Cyberspace. Edited by Alexander Huang and Charles Ross. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cartelli, Thomas and Katherine Rowe. New Wave Shakespeare on Screen. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, Robin. Global Diasporas: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Columpar, Corinn. Unsettling Sights: The Fourth World Cinema. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Desai, Jigna. “Bollywood Abroad: South Asian Diaspora Cosmopolitanism and Indian Cinema.” Gatherings in Diaspora: Communities and the New Immigration. Edited by R. Stephen Warner and Judith G. Wittner. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudrah, Rajinder and Jigna Desai, The Bollywood Reader. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwyer, Rachel. “Bollywood Bourgeois,” India International Centre Quarterly 33 (2007). 228.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ezra, Elizabeth and Terry Rowden, eds. Transnational Cinema: The Film Reader. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francia, Luis H. “Inventing the Earth: The Notion of ‘Home’ in Asian American Literature.” Across the Pacific: Asian Americans and Globalization. Edited by E. Hu-DeHart. New York and Philadelphia: Asia Society and Temple University Press, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gopal, Sangita and Sujata Moorti. Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guneratne, Antony R. Shakespeare, Film Studies, and the Visual Cultures of Modernity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. Edited by J. Rutherford. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinz, Philipp “Shakespeare’s Dirty Business: Reading Signs and Controlling Looks in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool.” Shakespeare Jahrbuch 145 (2009). 158–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Islam, Maidul. “Imagining Indian Muslims: Looking Through the Lens of Bollywood Cinema,” Indian Journal of Human Development 1. 2 (2007). 403–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jess-Cooke, Carolyn. “Screening the McShakespeare in Post-Millennial Shakespeare Cinema.” Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-first Century. Edited by Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006. 163–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasbekar, Asha. Pop Culture India! Santa Barbara, CA: ABC Clio, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan, Aisha. “Rites and Rights of Passage: Seeking a Diasporic Consciousness,” Cultural Dynamics: Insurgent Scholarship on Culture, Politics and Power 19. 2 /3 (2007). 141–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malhotra, Sheena and Tavishi Alagh, “Dreaming the Nation: Domestic Dramas in Hindi Films Post-1990,” South Asian Popular Culture 2. 1 (2004). 19–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, David. “Dharma and Violence in Mumbai,” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation 4.2 (2009). Accessed December 10, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirani, Indu. “The Music Plays On,” Cinema in India 3. 3 (2004). 22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, Vijay. Literature of the Indian Diaspora: Theorizing the Diasporic Imaginary. London: Routledge, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orfall, Blair. “From Ethnographic Impulses to Apocalyptic Endings: Bhardwaj’s Maqbool and Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood in Comparative Context.” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation 4.2 (2009). Accessed December 10, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajadhyaksha, Ashish. “The ‘Bollywoodization’ of the Indian Cinema: CulturalNationalism in a Global Arena,” Inter -Asia Cultural Studies 4.1 (2003). 23–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramesh, Randeep. “A Matter of Caste as Bollywood Embraces the Bard,” The Guardian, July 29, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roach, Joseph. Cities of the Dead: Circum -Atlantic Performance. New York: Columbia Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, Daniel. 100 Shakespeare Films . London: British Film Institute, 2007. Salam, Ziya Us. “Culture on Camera,” The Hindu , January 29, 2009. Accessed March 10, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article96927.ece .

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, Alexandra. “Hum Aapke Hain Koun... !: An Example of the Coding of Emotions in Contemporary Hindi Mainstream Film,” Projections 3. 2 (2009). 56–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, Suddhaseel. “Indigenizing Macbeth: Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool,” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation 4.2 (2009). Accessed November 10, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shcackleton, Liz. “India Inc Extends its Global Reach,” Screen International 1637 (March 21, 2008 ). 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, Anant. “Videovision Acquires Maqbool Distribution Rights,” Africa Film and TV 38, November 1, 2003. 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, Brahmanand. “Interview with Vishal Bhardwaj.” Cinema in India 1 (2007). 47. Srinivasa, Sidharth. “The Bard of Bombay,” Cinemaya 1. 3 (2006). 12–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivedi, Poonam. “It Is the Bloody Business which Informs Thus... ’: Local Politics and Performative Praxis, Macbeth in India.” World-wide Shakespeares: Local Appropriations in Film and Performance. Edited by Sonia Massai. London and New York: Routledge, 2005. 47–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivedi, Poonam. “Filmi Shakespeare,” Literature / Film Quarterly 35. 2 (2007). 148–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamamoto, Hiroshi. “The Originality of Kurosawa’s Throne ofBlood.” Shakespeare in Japan: A Publication of the Shakespeare Yearbook. Edited by Tetsuo Anzai, Soji Iwasaki, Holger Klein, and Peter Milward SJ. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

Filmography

  • Abel, Roysten, dir. In Othello . ANB Pictures, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akhtar, Farhan, dir. Dil Chahta Hai. Excel Entertainment, 2001. Ali, Muzaffar, dir. Umrao Jaan. Integrated Films, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akhtar, Farhan. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. Rajshri Productions, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asif, K., dir. Mughal-e -Azam. Sterling Investment Corporation, 1960.

    Google Scholar 

  • Besson, Luc, dir. León. Gaumont, Les Films du Duphin, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhardwaj, Vishal, dir. Maqbool. Kaleidoscope Entertainment, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhardwaj, Vishal, dir. Omkara. Eros International Entertainment, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chadha, Gurinder, dir. Bride and Prejudice. Bride Productions, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, Anthony, dir. One Husband Too Many (Yi Qi Liang Fu). Bo Ho Film Company Ltd., Mobile Film Production, Paragon Films Ltd, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chopra, Aditya, dir. Dilwale Dulhaniya le Jayenge. Yash Raj Films, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chopra, Vidhu Vinod, dir. Mission Kashmir. Destination Films, Vinod Chopra Productions, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford Coppola, Francis, dir. The Godfather. Alfran Productions, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh, Partho, dir. Ghulam-e-Musthafa. S.G.S. Cine Arts International, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gowariker, Ashutosh, dir. Swades: We, the People. Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd., Dillywood, UTV Motion Pictures, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gulzar, Sampooran, dir. Angoor. A. R. Movies, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivory, James, dir. Shakespeare Wallah. Merchant Ivory Productions, 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johar, Karan, dir. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Dharma Productions, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kapoor, Raj, dir. Bobby. R. K. Films Ltd., 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kashyap, Anurag, dir. Black Friday. Mid Day Multimedia Limited, Big Bang Pictures, Jhamu Sughand, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan, Mansoor, dir. Qayamat se Qayamat Tak. Nasir Hussain Films, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurosawa, Akira, dir. Throne ofBlood. Toho Company, Kurosawa Production Co, 1957.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehta, Deepa, dir. Bollywood/Hollywood. Different Tree Same Wood, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Modi, Sohrab, dir. Pukar. Minerva Movietone, 1939.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnam, Mani, dir. Nayakan. Sujatha Film, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnam, Mani, dir. Roja. Madras Talkies, Hansa Pictures ( P) Ltd., Kavithalayaa Productions, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnam, Mani, dir. Bombay. Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited and Madras Talkies, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnam, Mani, dir. Dil Se. India Talkies, Madras Talkies, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawail, Rahul, dir. Betaab. 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varma, Ram Gopal, dir. Satya. 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratnam, Mani, dir.Company. Varma Corporation, Vyjayanthi Movies, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2014 Craig Dionne and Parmita Kapadia

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

García-Periago, R.M. (2014). The Ambiguities of Bollywood Conventions and the Reading of Transnationalism in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool. In: Dionne, C., Kapadia, P. (eds) Bollywood Shakespeares. Reproducing Shakespeare: New Studies in Adaptation and Appropriation. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137375568_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics