Off Screen Perspectives: India’s Transnational Independent Film Production Culture

Bhatia, Neha

Off Screen Perspectives: India’s Transnational Independent Film Production Culture

dc.contributor.advisor	Tepperman, Charles
dc.contributor.advisor	Vijayan, Devika
dc.contributor.author	Bhatia, Neha
dc.contributor.committeemember	Croombs, Matthew
dc.contributor.committeemember	Dueck, Cheryl
dc.contributor.committeemember	Martini, Clement
dc.contributor.committeemember	Devasundaram, Ashvin
dc.contributor.committeemember	Wagner, Martin
dc.date	2023-11
dc.date.accessioned	2023-10-02T15:56:34Z
dc.date.available	2023-10-02T15:56:34Z
dc.date.issued	2023-09-21
dc.description.abstract	The academic scholarship on Indian film has predominantly focused on Bollywood cinema, examining central aspects such as the aesthetics, style, genre, ideology, industrial structure, and culture, as well as the transnational circulation and consumption of Bollywood in the era of globalization. This resulted in limited scholarship about independent, regional, and alternative cinemas in India. However, there is increasing interest in studying these cinemas, including their aesthetics, production processes and distribution models. Therefore, this dissertation contributes to and addresses this gap in the scholarship by examining India’s transnational independent film production culture. Employing an interdisciplinary approach that draws insights from Media Industry Studies, specifically John Caldwell's “cultural-industrial” method (2008), this dissertation emphasizes the need to examine the political-economic/industrial structures and labour practices in relation to each other. Therefore, it combines textual, industrial, and cultural analysis, alongside bottom-up methods such as personal interviews and participant observation to gain deeper insights into the film policies, practices, and professionals — making and facilitating Indian independent cinema transnationally. The focal point is the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) – established in 1980 as a state-sponsored organization for developing alternative cinemas. This dissertation examines the management of NFDC, its annual film market Film Bazaar, as well as the professional world of its staff members and producers – who are primarily involved in creating independent cinema transnationally. The case study of NFDC explores how the organization managed and restructured itself in response to the neoliberal-national policies, leading to the formation of a transnational independent film production culture in the mid-2000s. The case study of Film Bazaar addresses the implications of these industrial structures on the programming, practices, and management, revealing the precarious work culture of its labour (e.g., low pay, contractual, and seasonal work). The final case study examines the under-explored role of Indian producers, their production culture, and the emotional labour within these transnational structures of independent filmmaking. Indian producers weave hero narratives, intertwining their beliefs and practices rooted in mentoring, networking, and creative entrepreneurship.
dc.identifier.citation	Bhatia, N. (2023). Off screen perspectives: India’s transnational independent film production culture (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117227
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Indian Independent Cinema
dc.subject	Media Industries Studies
dc.subject	Indian Producers
dc.subject	Production Cultures
dc.subject	Transnational Cinema
dc.subject	Film Festivals
dc.subject.classification	Cinema
dc.title	Off Screen Perspectives: India’s Transnational Independent Film Production Culture
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Languages, Literatures and Cultures
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.