The Geri-Actions of the Aging Amitabh Bachchan

Abstract

Geri-action as a term within film studies describes a subgenre of action cinema in which, largely though not exclusively, men in their middle ages partake in narratives of action and spectacle, whilst simultaneously dealing with issues of aging bodies that participate in a move, or not as the case might be, towards some sort of an idea of retirement. This article explores how we might make the term work for us critically and discernibly in film, media, and cultural studies, especially in the non-Hollywood and global cinematic context. It uses the example of the Indian actor and star Amitabh Bachchan, aged 79, one of the country’s most iconic and longest serving entertainers in its cinema and related media industries. The case of Bachchan allows us to think about the notion of geri-action as not just a universal cinematic subcategory but one that we also have to make nuanced for local and global cultural contexts.

Keywords:

• Amitabh Bachchan
• blogging
• Bollywood
• Indian cinema
• intertextual masala pastiche
• online
• stars

NOTES

Notes

1. See Mitra (“The Show of the Millennium”) for a reading of Bachchan’s performance as what she terms the “Benevolent Patriarch” in his role as the show’s presenter. She argues that the success of Kaun Banega Crorepati resonated with India’s 1990’s economic liberalization policies and Amitabh Bachchan’s star persona at that time.

2. In India, for instance, he has won several prestigious Filmfare awards, including Best Actor more than a few times, Best Supporting Actor, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Superstar of the Millennium.

3. For biographical accounts of Bachchan’s life and career see, for example, Somayaa; Mohammed; Singh.

4. As a term, geri-action cinema is often cited in two ways in the academic or trade press literature either as “geriaction” or “geri-action” cinema. In this article, I have opted to use it with its hyphen to draw attention to the way the term requires further critical exploration and elaboration, not least in the context of understandings about the workings of this subgenre in the popular Indian cinema context.

5. This summary and use of Lucia Nagib’s formulation of polycentric world cinema has been taken from my earlier study of Black British diasporic cinema as contributing to debates in world cinema (Dudrah 113–14).

6. Masala—as in a mixture of spices to create an overall blend or flavor and hence a mixture of song and dance, social drama, romance, action, religion, and family melodrama all featuring in the same film.

7. On popular Indian film posters, see Pinto; Devraj.

8. Invariably more academic studies have focused on men but more recent scholarship in cinema studies is redressing this imbalance. See, for example, Majumdar; Bolton and Wright; Williams.

9. See also the editorial of the inaugural issue of the Celebrity Studies journal (Holmes and Redmond 5).

10. See for example BTHB’s figures (Box Office India) and reviews at Times of India and Filmibeat (Ramchander).

11. See Mark Gallagher’s review of Arroyo’s book and the action/spectacle genre in general (Gallagher).

12. See, for instance, Alfaro; Fuery; Lesic-Thomas.

13. The trailer can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ZuPJXGuig. Accessed 16 June 2020.

14. This song and dance number can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQtxwGXOjBo. Accessed 16 June 2020.

15. See Mitra for a reading of Bachchan’s persona from the “Angry Young Man” to “Benevolent Patriarch” as emblematic of India’s shift from postindependence socialist values in 1947 to consumerism and millennial transformation by the 2000s.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rajinder Dudrah

Rajinder Dudrah is professor of cultural studies and creative industries in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media at Birmingham City University. He has taught, researched, and published widely across film, media, and cultural studies, and is the founding Co-Editor of the scholarly journal, South Asian Popular Culture. Rajinder is also Co-Investigator for the Arts and Humanities Research Council–funded Diaspora Screen Media Network (https://www.bcu.ac.uk/media/research/research-groups/creative-industries/research-projects/diaspora-screen-media-network), and his recent books include: Creative Multilingualism: A Manifesto (coedited with Katrin Kohl et. al., 2020), Graphic Novels and Visual Cultures in South Asia (coedited with Emma Varughese, 2020), South Asian and Creative Cultural Industries (coedited with Khaleel Malik, 2020), and The Evolution of Song and Dance in Hindi Cinema (coedited with Ajay Gehlawat, 2019).