Appreciating Melodrama
Theory and Practice in Indian Cinema and Television
by Piyush Roy
Average rating:
0 | rating | ![]() |
0 | rating | ![]() |
0 | rating | ![]() |
0 | rating | ![]() |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
Appreciating Theory and Practice in Indian Cinema and Television seeks to identify and appreciate the continual influence of the ancient Sanskrit drama treatise, the Natyashastra , and its theory of aesthetics, the rasa theory, on the unique narrative attributes of Indian cinema.This volume of work critically engages with a representative sample of landmark films from 100 years of Indian film history across genres, categories, regions and languages. This is the first time a case study-based rigorous academic review of popular Indian cinema is done using the Indian aesthetic appreciation theory of rasa (affect/emotion). It proposes a theoretical model for film appreciation, especially for content made in the melodramatic genre, and challenges existing First World/Euro-American film criticism canons and notions that privilege cinematic 'realism' over other narrative forms, which will generate passionate debates for and against its propositions in future studies and research on films.This is a valuable academic reference book for students of film and theatre, world cinema and Indian cinema studies, South Asian studies and culture, Indology and the 'Sociology of Cinema' studies. It is a must-have reference text in the curriculum of both practical-oriented acting schools, as well as courses and modules focusing on a theoretical study of cinema, such as film criticism and appreciation, and the history of movies and performance studies.
See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Publishing
> From the same author:
> On a related topic:
The Evolution of Song and Dance in Hindi Cinema (2021)
Dir. Ajay Gehlawat and Rajinder Dudrah
Subject: Countries
Film and Place in an Intercultural Perspective (2024)
India-Europe Film Connections
by Krzysztof Stachowiak, Hania Janta, Jani Kozina and Therese Sunngren-Granlund
Subject: Sociology
From Rajahs and Yogis to Gandhi and Beyond (2010)
Images of India in International Films of the 20th Century
by Vijaya Mulay
Subject: Sociology
The Revolution of Indian Parallel Cinema in the Global South (1968–1995) (2025)
From Feminism to Iconoclasm
by Omar Ahmed
A History of India's North-East Cinema (2025)
Deconstructing the Stereotypes