Acknowledgments  ix

Introduction. How the Hindi Film Industry Became "Bollywood"  1

Part 1. The Social Status of Films and Filmmakers  

1. From Vice to Virtue: The State and Filmmaking in India  41

2. From Slumdogs to Millionaires: The Gentrification of Hindi Cinema  77

3. Casting Respectability  119

Part 2. The Practices and Processes of Film Production  

4. A Day in the Life of a Hindi Film Set  155

5. The Structure, Organization, and Social Relations of the Hindi Film Industry  175

6. Sentiments of Disdain and Practices of Distinction: The Work Culture of the Hindi Film Industry  215

7. Risky Business: Managing Uncertainty in the Hindi Film Industry  243

Part 3. Discourses and Practices of Audience-Making  

8. Pleasing Both Aunties and Servants: The Hindi Film Industry and Its Audience Imaginaries  281

9. The Fear of Large Numbers: The Gentrification of Audience Imaginaries  315

Epilogue: My Name Is Bollywood  359

Notes  367

Bibliography  401

Index  419

Named a 2012 Choice Outstanding Academic Titles (American Library Association)

“The book is rich in anthropological and historical data, theoretically astute, accessible, and great fun to read. It is a must for anyone interested in Bollywood or other film industries, and for scholars interested in the effects of neoliberalism and globalization in India. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.”— L. M. Proctor, Choice

“[O]ffers extraordinary insight into the production processes of the late 1990s…. [T]he thoroughness and comprehensive review of trends in this book must be highly commended.”—Rodney Jensen, Media International Australia

“In Producing Bollywood, the first truly comprehensive ethnographic account of the Mumbai-based film industry, Tejaswini Ganti crafts an ode to an India in deep transition, via the multifaceted lenses of a glamorized and iconic subsection of its Hindi-language filmmakers and actors. . . . [A] landmark study.”—Ritesh Mehta, International Journal of Communication

“Producing Bollywood is a riveting read. It draws carefully thought out
connections between cultural formations, changing discourses of legitimacy
and nation building. It is to Ganti’s credit that she is able to bring rigorous
ethnographic tools to bear upon fieldwork materials put together over a
decade and more.... Overall, this is a timely and much needed insight into the intersections of the political economy of production, consumption and legitimization of mass cultural products. It should interest readers and students of Mass Media, Film Studies, Culture Studies, South Asia, Anthropology and Ethnography.”—Sushmita Banerji, Studies in South Asian Film

“The book invites the reader to delve into the politics, finance, and
cultural logics that shape the production of Bollywood. As a result, the book can potentially bridge the gap between filmmakers and academicians. Both methodologically and theoretically, Ganti’s work is a seminal contribution in the area of academic studies of Bollywood. . . . Ganti’s exhaustive ethnography would be a great source of first hand information for anyone
interested in knowing the shifting terrain of the Hindi film industry.”—Nadira Khatun, eDhvani

“Producing Bollywood is a lucidly written and thoroughly researched ethnography of a film industry whose products are deeply interwoven in the ordinary life and politics of hundreds of millions of people.”—Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria, American Ethnologist

“The result is a readable, widely accessible text that students, specialists and even fans will enjoy.” —Katherine Martineau, Asian Studies Review

“The book may be useful to anyone interested in sociology, anthropology, cinema, media, communication, cultural studies, development studies and other interdisciplinary fields. The book is indispensable for those who still use the terms Hindi cinema and Bollywood interchangeably and find it unproblematic.”—K. V. Nagesh, Economic & Political Weekly

Named a 2012 Choice Outstanding Academic Titles (American Library Association)

“The book is rich in anthropological and historical data, theoretically astute, accessible, and great fun to read. It is a must for anyone interested in Bollywood or other film industries, and for scholars interested in the effects of neoliberalism and globalization in India. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.”— L. M. Proctor, Choice

“[O]ffers extraordinary insight into the production processes of the late 1990s…. [T]he thoroughness and comprehensive review of trends in this book must be highly commended.”—Rodney Jensen, Media International Australia

“In Producing Bollywood, the first truly comprehensive ethnographic account of the Mumbai-based film industry, Tejaswini Ganti crafts an ode to an India in deep transition, via the multifaceted lenses of a glamorized and iconic subsection of its Hindi-language filmmakers and actors. . . . [A] landmark study.”—Ritesh Mehta, International Journal of Communication

“Producing Bollywood is a riveting read. It draws carefully thought out
connections between cultural formations, changing discourses of legitimacy
and nation building. It is to Ganti’s credit that she is able to bring rigorous
ethnographic tools to bear upon fieldwork materials put together over a
decade and more.... Overall, this is a timely and much needed insight into the intersections of the political economy of production, consumption and legitimization of mass cultural products. It should interest readers and students of Mass Media, Film Studies, Culture Studies, South Asia, Anthropology and Ethnography.”—Sushmita Banerji, Studies in South Asian Film

“The book invites the reader to delve into the politics, finance, and
cultural logics that shape the production of Bollywood. As a result, the book can potentially bridge the gap between filmmakers and academicians. Both methodologically and theoretically, Ganti’s work is a seminal contribution in the area of academic studies of Bollywood. . . . Ganti’s exhaustive ethnography would be a great source of first hand information for anyone
interested in knowing the shifting terrain of the Hindi film industry.”—Nadira Khatun, eDhvani

“Producing Bollywood is a lucidly written and thoroughly researched ethnography of a film industry whose products are deeply interwoven in the ordinary life and politics of hundreds of millions of people.”—Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria, American Ethnologist

“The result is a readable, widely accessible text that students, specialists and even fans will enjoy.” —Katherine Martineau, Asian Studies Review

“The book may be useful to anyone interested in sociology, anthropology, cinema, media, communication, cultural studies, development studies and other interdisciplinary fields. The book is indispensable for those who still use the terms Hindi cinema and Bollywood interchangeably and find it unproblematic.”—K. V. Nagesh, Economic & Political Weekly

"This is the first book on Bollywood to combine a deep knowledge of the dynamics of script, song, stars, and style in this cinematic world with an equally keen sense of the unique nature of the politics, finance, and cultural prejudices of the film industry. It will be an indispensable benchmark for all future studies of Bollywood and of similar cinematic industries worldwide, and it will interest media scholars, anthropologists, sociologists of culture, and the curious general reader."—Arjun Appadurai, New York University

"Tejaswini Ganti mines her extensive contacts in an industry generally closed-off to outsiders to provide us with in-depth analyses of the sensibilities, compulsions, and desires of important figures in the film industry, as well as the social practices of film production. Producing Bollywood provides unique insights into the forces that shape the production of films in one of the largest film industries in the world. By going beyond the hype surrounding 'Bollywood' and eschewing simplistic dismissals about escapism and the profit-making drive of Bollywood filmmakers, this book enables us to understand the cultural logics that shape the production of Bollywood film. Based on more than a decade of ethnographic fieldwork in multiple sites of film production, Producing Bollywood is truly a trailblazing work."—Purnima Mankekar, author of Screening Culture, Viewing Politics: An Ethnography of Television, Womanhood, and Nation in Postcolonial India

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