From Bombay Talkies to Khote Productions: female star switching power in bollywood production culture

ABSTRACT

Devika Rani, first lady of Indian cinema, spearheaded a studio and co-produced global films. Her contemporary Durga Khote was the first female star to produce ad films and venture into television production. Nargis, the star of Oscar nominated, Mother India, also produced films. While female stars have historically been central to Indian cinema’s production culture and globalization, their role within it is largely ignored. These stars have been critical to the adoption of global industry practices and the creation of new business models and networks to enable Hindi cinema’s global presence. Charting a historical trajectory from the 1940s to the 1960s this article explicates the impact of female “star switching power”, the ability to exceed the constraints of the network through their “effective and affective” power within India’s socio-cultural and political networks, to create new directions for Hindi cinema. Tracing the contributions of female stars such as Devika Rani and Durga Khote (high caste, elite Brahmins) and juxtaposing it to Nargis (a minority Muslim from a chequered family background), the article shows that class, caste and religion become key factors in determining whether a star’s production efforts translate to “switching power” or devolve into affective and material labour.

KEYWORDS:

• Globalization
• Bollywood production culture
• female stars
• switching power
• affective labor

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Shanti Kumar and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I refer to this stage as a proto-network because Indian Hindi cinema was a new industry, not yet formally recognized by the state. It was more a collection of film clusters rather than a network. However, it is through these early proto-configurations that Bollywood in its current globally networked form has emerged.

2. Conceptualized by Bourdieu: social capital refers to economic resources one gains by being part of a network of social relationships. Cultural capital refers to the non-economic resources such as superior cultural knowledge, education and skills that enable social mobility. Economic capital refers to monetary resources.

3. Field is a concept given by Pierre Bourdieu.

4. Bachchan, was the first to adopt corporate business practices in the film and entertainment sector due to his close political ties with the ruling government, especially the Prime Minister.

5. Roerich family also possessed an enormous amount of wealth and socio-political and cultural clout. Svetslav Roerich’s portraits of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi adorn the Central Hall of the Parliament.

6. Saraswat is a sub-caste within the Brahmins that denotes the highest pedigree of Brahmins.

7. Under the aegis of her production company, Nargis also produced Darogaji (1949), Bheeshma Pratigya (1950), and Pyar ki Baten (1951). The films were directed by her brother and did not fare well at the box office.

Additional information

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Swapnil Rai

Dr. Swapnil Rai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film, Television and Media at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has been Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University and has taught at Wesleyan University. She holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Radio, TV and Film at the University of Texas, Austin. Her forthcoming book is a historical analysis of the role of Bollywood stars in enabling Indian Hindi cinema’s globalization. E-mail: [email protected].