Myths, Markets and Panics: Speculating About the Proto-Cinematic Historical Significance of the Popularity of Two Parsi Theatre Plays at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

<strong>Centre for Historical Studies School of Social Sciences</strong> a <strong>Lecture </strong> <strong>"Myths, Markets and Panics: Speculating About the Proto-Cinematic Historical Significance of the Popularity of Two Parsi Theatre Plays at the Turn of the Twentieth Century"</strong> <strong>Dr. Kaushik Bhaumik </strong> Cinema Studies at the School of Art and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University <strong>27th January 2016</strong> <strong>Abstract: </strong>The paper will be an informed speculation upon the possible reasons for the public popularity of two stories, those of the kings Harishchandra and Nala, in the repertoire of the Parsi-Gujarati theatre based out of Bombay. If the sheer number of performances and their legendary status are anything to go by then these plays were important articulators of Indic public imaginations in the period between the 1870s and the 1910s. The paper will map play-text content on to the ethical dilemmas the mercantile class might have been facing as Indic capitalism transformed itself from traditional forms to public legal forms open to transcendental scrutiny by a new kind of public sphere that was emerging during the years under consideration. Kaushik Bhaumik is Associate Professor in Cinema Studies at the School of Art and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is co-editor (with Elizabeth Edwards) of Visual Sense: A Cultural Reader, 2009. Recent publications include a guest-edited Marg Special Issue on the 100 Years of Bombay Cinema and the co-edited Project Cinema/City (with Madhusree Dutta and Rohan Shivkumar) from Tulika Books. He has contributed articles on the history of early Indian cinema and on Indian cinema in World Cinema to various journals and anthologies.