Review of Band Baaja Baarat

Questions: 1. Summarize what kapur means by, Bollywood culture industry (see 222). Give some examples how this aesthetic has spread outside the industry. 2. What does kapur mean by narrative flattening in the themed movies of 1990s? Does Band Baajaa Baaraat fit this profile? 3.what does it mean for the neoliberal subject to be regulated by the stress of asserting individuality and style (kapur227)? Do you agree? Answers: 1. According to Kapur Bollywood Culture Industry tries to portray the extravaganza involved in Indian culture, especially in Indian wedding ceremonies in global domain. According to her, the heart of Indian cinema deals with the family-oriented behavior of Indian people. It shows melodramatic sessions of Indian family oriented problems, the happy times associated in family bonding and the lavish Indian wedding scenario (Kapur 2009). The Indian government also encourages in promoting the Indian culture at global platform by highlighting the extravagancy in consumption culture of the Indians during a wedding season to give them the notion of the depth of Indian culture. This notion of Indian culture where family comes as the first priority has also been observed in the wedding ceremonies in real life. Recent trend shows that people from richer section of the society are engaged in theme-based, destination-based weddings and inviting celebrities to perform a function in the occasion which involves costs in crores of the currency. 2. Indian Cinema has shown narrative flattening in the movies released during 1990s. According to Kapur, Indian film has well imbibed the claustrophobic and ruthless level of narration. It tries to eliminate the existence of villains, melodrama between the fight for justice by the goods and bads, antagonisms, etc. The complexity of the human life has been minimized in the Indian cinema while the happy side of wedding, specially the Hindu wedding has been elucidated through different movies (Kapur 2009). The chosen film named Band Baajaa Baarat highlights this aspect of narrative flattening in the movie. The movie shows the way in which two people meets accidently and then the friendship grows amongst them along with the growth of their professional careers. It then depicts some emotional turmoil that the two characters underwent while trying to separate their personal and professional life but things end up in a happy note. Here again the problems of life has been minimized whereas t he happy facets has been highlighted resulting in an epitome example of narrative flattening. 3. Neo-liberal dynamic implies changes in the society that are incorporated with the social segments. In Indian cinema it has been seen that the Indian traditions has been prioritized and made superior. The cinemas were unable to incorporate all the difficulties that the society passes through while they pass through this transformation (Kapur 2009). According to my view, the movie Band Baajaa Baarat also goes through the same problem. It showed that the two main characters Bittoo as potrayed by Ranveer Singh and Shruti as potrayed by Anushka Sharma faced minimal restrictions from their family regarding their relationships. In reality, the Indian people still juxtaposed between modernization and orthodox mentality often poses hindrance in the relationship of their children. This has been eliminated the movie. In reality the Indian people especially the mediocre family causes a hindrance and often there are cases where the two people in relationships gets separated on force from their family. References: Kapur, Jyotsna. "An Arranged love marriage: India's neoliberal turn and the bollywood wedding culture industry."Communication, Culture Critique2, no. 2 (2009): 221-233.