New Course in Cinema Studies: Bollywood Cinema
The English department announces the launch of an exciting new course in Spring 2017! 
This new course is in film studies: in Spring 2017, students and alumni can learn more about the world’s most widely consumed popular cinema: Bollywood Cinema. From Coldplay and Beyonce’s music video “Hymn For the Weekend” to the Oscar-winning Danny Boyle film Slumdog Millionaire, Bollywood’s visual aesthetic has captured our imagination globally. ENG 1712, an introductory discussion-based course “Bollywood Cinema” will meet on Wednesdays 12.45 pm – 3.15 pm, and is taught by Prof. Kavita Daiya. The course aims to study key popular films from the sixties to the present in popular cinema in India, that have shaped dominant ideas about love, gender, family, duty, nationalism, and citizenship. At the same time, we will critically examine the formation of the concept “Bollywood” and explore how it engages both Hollywood cinema and the South Asian American diaspora in its recent avatars. Films with subtitles will be e-streamed on Blackboard; there are no prerequisites. The course counts for the English and Creative Writing major and minor, as well as Asian Studies major and minor. See the description below, and contact Prof. Daiya (kdaiya@gwu.edu) with questions or for more details. Come and learn about a film archive that, since the 1950s, has been consumed around the world, from India, Pakistan to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia, UK and North America. Films we will watch include “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge,” “Om Shanti Om,” “Deewar,” and others.
