Introduction
This audio-visual talk will provide an account of the different imaginations of the city present in contemporary Bombay Cinema. The talk will first provide a historical account of cinema’s relationship to urban spaces as it evolved since independence and subsequently focus on what is now identified as a 21st century experience of the city after globalization. The talk will follow three distinct sites of investigation on the contemporary: changes in film exhibition practices, the emergence of the retro city and thespatial economyproduced by surveillance.
Indian cities in the last two decades have witnessed major transformations. The rise of innovative architectural designs, new forms of infrastructure and the ubiquitous presence of technological gadgets have marked this moment as globalization. This transformation has created a dense visual and aural landscape in which the sound of the cell phone follows us everywhere along with new surfaces and objects that pervade the city. It is this juncture that has triggered off a cinematic re-visiting of Bombay’s pre-globalized urban form through a retro imagination on the one hand and a surveillance gaze on the other. The retro films draw on perceived notions of the recent past to specifically design a city devoid of the signs of the present. There is a fascination with outmoded or obsolete technology, older forms of home decor, fashion and accessories. In the surveillance films however new technologies crowd the frame. Through these different approaches I will lay out new urban forays that have emerged in the Multiplex era.
About the Speaker
Ranjani Mazumdar teaches Cinema Studies at the School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her publications focus on urban cultures, popular cinema, gender and the cinematic city. She is the author of Bombay Cinema: An Archive of the City (2007) and co-author with Nitin Govil of the forthcoming The Indian Film Industry (2013). She has also worked as a documentary filmmaker and her productions include Delhi Diary 2001 and The Power of the Image (Co-Directed). Her current research focuses on globalization and film culture, the visual culture of film posters and the intersection of technology, travel and design in 1960s Bombay Cinema.
关于活动
这场视听并茂的讲座将分析当代孟买电影中关于城市的各种想象。长久以来，电影与城市空间就有着不小的渊源， 兰贾妮·马宗妲将会从历史维度谈起自印度独立之后两者关系的变化，并继而集中探讨所谓全球化之后、二十一世纪的城市经验。讲座将在三个关于当代的截然不同的研究场域中展开：电影放映实践的变迁，复古城市的出现，以及由监控所产生出的空间经济。
印度城市在过去二十年间经历了重大转型。耳目一新的建筑设计，新形式的基础建设和无所不在的科技小玩意儿，无不标识着这个全球化的时刻，而这一转型已经创造出了强烈的视听景观。手机铃声伴随着我们去向任何地方，新的表象和事物遍及城市的每一个角落。这个时刻也恰恰触发了在电影中对于全球化之前的孟买的城市形态的重访，一方面是以怀旧想象的方式，另一方面像是透过监控器关注以前的孟买。“复古”电影利用“最近过去”的既有概念，设计了一座没有任何“现在”标识的城市，存在一种对过时又废弃的技术，老旧家居，过气时尚和搭配的迷恋。而在“监控电影”中，时下的新科技充斥着屏幕。通过这些不同的方式，马宗妲教授将为我们呈现在多剧场影院时代中里新出现的“旧城逆袭”。
关于主讲人
兰贾妮·马宗妲
目前在尼赫鲁大学艺术与审美学院教授电影研究。她的著作主要关注城市文化，流行电影，性别和电影城市。她是《孟买电影：城市档案》（Bombay Cinema: An Archive of the City, 2007）的作者，也是即将出版的《印度电影工业》（The Indian Film Industry, 2013）的合著者（另一位作者是Nitin Govil）。她也是《你不属于：印度电影的过去与未来》的作者之一。
她亦是纪录片制作人，她的作品包括《德里日记》（Delhi Diary, 2001）以及《图像的力量》（The Power of the Image, 联合导演）。她目前的研究方向包括：全球化与电影文化，电影海报视觉文化与科技的交叉，1960年代孟买电影中的旅行与设计等。