Representations of Indian folk dance forms in the song and dance sequences of contemporary Bollywood cinema

This thesis examines the representation of traditional Indian folk dance forms in the song and dance sequences of contemporary Bollywood cinema. Employing textual analysis, interviews and discussions with people involved in the construction and performance of these song and dance sequences, this thesis focuses specifically on how folk dance forms are transformed and hybridised when represented within popular cinema. To ground this analysis, the thesis examines six films produced by ‘Yash Raj Films’ (YRF) – a prominent production house of contemporary Indian cinema – made over the last 40 years. Subsequently, these questions and issues are addressed through the close textual analysis of specific song and dance sequences from Kaala Patthar (1979), Silsila (1981), Lamhe (1991), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Veer-Zaara (2005) and Tashan (2008). The thesis traces the significant developments in Bollywood cinema – such as its focus on escapist fantasies of exotic lands in the 1970s; the Indian diaspora in the 1990s; the question of globalisation and its local impact, as well as the indigenisation of Western culture, in the 2000s – in relation to these specific films. It concludes by exploring the subsequent impact of these Bollywood representations on the performance and presentation of these “actual” folk dance forms, highlighting Bhangra and Purulia Chhau as pertinent case studies. It finally considers the question of whether Bollywood song and dance sequences have altered Indian folk dance forms to such an extent that they have become unrecognisable.