The neo-liberal city and cinema: Deccani films

ABSTRACT

Neo-liberal reforms of the 1990s in India brought new modes of operation which made cities as the central nodes of the economy. The cities were now reconfigured as servicing hubs for the global market. The spatial nature of the city and the way of life also was transformed to match the other global cities which served as examples on which the Indian cities were modelled. In case of Hyderabad, this moment of transformation to a global city creates a critical tension between the futuristic imaginations of the city and the present. This tension is experienced spatially and temporally; while the new city was shaping itself as the Hitech city, the old city with its identity associated with the Muslim past was outside the development discourse. It is at this juncture that the Hyderabadi film emerges, speaking Deccani language, a language which has historical origins in the region. These films visualize the interaction between the old city and the new city through humour and satire. This paper attempts to examine the ways in which the city is brought alive on screen by the Deccani films and interrogate its politics. It attempts to understand the nature of the city realised on screen at the juncture of shift of economy to the neo-liberal model.

KEYWORDS:

• Hyderabadi film
• city identity
• nostalgia
• global city

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Charminar was constructed by Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah in the sixteenth century. Since then it has continued to be the iconic monument of the Hyderabad city. It held a very prominent position during the Nizam rule; several of the administrative offices and palaces were located around the Charminar. As the city grew northwise, the area which houses the Charminar has been designated as the ‘old city’. The old city has high proportion of Muslim population.

2. I’m using the word Deccani films to describe films which are made in the Deccani version of Urdu (also called as Hyderabadi). These are films made in the city of Hyderabad using local technicians, have narratives set in the city and are marketed as Hyderabadi films.

3. Hyderabad is the centre for Telugu film industry which is one of the largest producers of films in India. The city also has significant audience for Bollywood owing to its large urban and multilingual population.

4. Some scholars use Dakhni to refer to Deccani. In this paper, the words Deccani, Dakhni and Hyderabadi have been used interchangeably.

5. There still are several Telugu films which represent old city as den of criminals. The intention here is to say that it is in this period that alternative imagination of the city emerges. This new imagination doesn’t mean that the earlier imaginations ceased to exist.

6. S. V. Srinivas has argued that the Telugu films present the standardized version of Telugu which is closer to the version spoken in the Coastal Andhra and often mock the Telangana Telugu. He notes that the Telangana Telugu is associated with the lower castes and hence is given a second class treatment.

7. Nagesh Kukunoor is a film director hailing from Hyderabad. He has made three films Hyderabad Blues, Hyderabad Blues 2, Lakshmi which are set in Hyderabad. His film Teen Deewarein also has a character from Hyderabad. His films often engage with the city of Hyderabad.

8. There have been several studies on the global appeal of Bollywood (e.g. Kavoori and Punathambekar) and the diasporic audience for Indian cinema (like Desai). The diasporic market is to be understood as a very significant market segment.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

C. Yamini Krishna

C. Yamini Krishna is a PhD Scholar at the Film Studies Department of the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad. Her research is on the intersection of city and cinema in the context of Hyderabad. Her research interests include popular culture, Indian Cinema and Digital cultures.