Jesse Zapata

BHCC Fall 2018

Prof. Kalami

Changing the Game: Indian Melodrama

A central theme in Indian film across its' many movements is identity, "a question that

has frequently figured in the history of Indian cinema" (Contemporary Indian Cinema, 77).

Whether in relation to Indians or to the rest of the world, the depiction of what is important to

Indian culture has been a subject of its cinema since inception. This theme of national identity

has marked some of the most successful examples of international Indian cinema such as

Panther Panchali (1955), Mother India (1957) and The Chess Players(1977). Even though more

than two decades apart the relevance of the question of change in the Indian national identity had

not faded at all. Indeed as the world has continued to change at a faster rate the question still

remains a topic of necessary importance, not just for Indians but increasingly other nations as

well. That this conversation remains is not a surprise, but the way it has changed as Indian

cinema settles into its most recent iteration as Bollywood is noticeably different as it begins to

reflect new ideas about India's status while keeping the same artistic language. Aesthetic and

thematic choices in production and directing have marked an evolution in Indian melodrama

parallel with the discussion of identity. Through rearranging and reinterpreting plot devices like

sports, romance, and character development melodrama is continuing to represent the changing

dialogue on Indian identity locally in Indian and the world at large. Perhaps the most notable

development of this phenomena is the Bollywood production of Lagaan (2002), not just as a

defining international success but a redefining interpretation of historic Indian subjugation.

Though almost forty years divide the two masterpieces of melodrama; Lagaan and The Chess

Players, each have similar devices with which they tell now-conflicting depictions of how Indian

popular culture has dealt with the legacy of imperialism. Accepting national identity as an

important question and melodrama as an important method will allow us to see how the narrative

has changed and give insight to its implications.

In order to see how Indian melodrama reflects a change in Indian national identity

politics one must take a look at how Indian melodrama itself has changed. The film culture in

India at the time of the release of Satyajit Ray's Chess Players has been termed 'New' Indian

cinema to differentiate it from the preceding Golden era. It was a time of "different approaches to

handling of socially relevant themes and, for some...experimentation" (Contemporary Indian

Cinema, 78), however this approach left scores of illiterate or unsatisfied moviegoers looking for

cheap thrills at a loss. This combined with market forces beginning to corral acting and

production talent into fewer studios meant that the audience for this kind of movie was bound to

shrink despite its immediate cultural relevance. The following 'Middle Cinema' showed a kind of

compromise between the market and director described as; "films that avoid the excesses of

escapist formula films and appeal to a middle-class audience interested in relatively sophisticated

entertainment" (Contemporary Indian Cinema, 78). Lastly the present incarnation of Indian

melodrama, Bollywood, "is the end result of a lengthy process of imitation, adaptation, and

indigenization." as film studios and directors have looked to strike a profitable balance of

cultural relevance and cultural reliability. Comparing use of melodrama recently to its origins in

the Golden Age of the 50's and 60's one recognizes how the evolution has combined elements of

previous movements. The need for what Satyajit Ray once called "a style...which would be

uniquely and recognizably Indian" has finally been met. The ultimate effect of this is that now
Indian storytellers have the language to discuss social issues in film and also the means to

effectively convey it to a massive audience.

A cornerstone of understanding this transition in cinematic dialogue is understanding

how Indian melodrama has been already been a vehicle for depicting national identity. In chapter

7 of Indian Popular Cinema authors K. Moti Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake broadly describe

the motions of Indian film as they coincided with changes in national thought. For the decades

after independence from the British Empire they describe a kind of honeymoon period of relative

peace and democratic ideals; "(the) popular genre remained firmly within the

romantic/melodramatic tradition"(103). However after this 'Nehruvian' era they assert that the

realism of post-Ghandi politics in India were brutal and corrupt with little economic gain to show

for the masses of the middle and lower class. This created " a new recipe for entertainment...

coming in high-pitched melodrama, sex, and violence."(104). The authors go on to show that as

the issues of the disenfranchised became more public melodramatic films grew more

controversial up through the end of the millennia taking on issues like women's rights, caste

discrimination, and terrorism.

As for the examples used here in this paper the two films Lagaan and The Chess Players

both soundly fit the requirements as melodramas with an honest regard for trying to establish

national identity as the main subject of the work. On one hand we have the historical

fiction/dramatization The Chess Players , the story of Wajid Ali Shah's court surrendering the

right to rule to the British crown told dually through reenactment and by games of chess between

friends. The other, Lagaan, is the fictional story of a ragtag group of Indian villagers wagering

their livelihoods against the invasive British in the form of a winner take all cricket match. Both

find their cases for national identity told in contrast to the British but in a breakdown of
melodramatic devices have little in common on the subject of identity save for an argument

about religious inclusion.

The most quintessential device of the melodrama is its use of the love story. On one hand

we have the situation of the two chess players, both are married men but only so happy as their

ignorance will allow. Their situations are respectively self humiliating, one is so trusting that he

takes the word of his wife's lover even having just found him hiding in his bedroom under his

own bed no less. The other is somehow even more hopeless; a wife who still loves him but an

unwillingness to take the time to be a husband- claiming to be too distracted by his games of

chess. In fact neither of these are truly love stories because neither couple are in love! However

the way in which they are deployed in lengthy, emotional, nuanced, and metaphoric fashion

make them integral side stories. Both men serve as their own worst enemies, a metaphor from

director Ray on the state of Indian indifference to the politics of self-rule. It is clear that the

British Marquess Dalhousie is conquering the subcontinent but they cannot be bothered to leave

the house to investigate let alone become involved. Life is too good for them: sitting on pillows,

smoking hookah, playing board games. Their indifference to their wives mirrors their

indifference to their country. The Chess Players makes an argument for the national identity of

Indians as being passive to the development of British rule. This is in stark contrast to the

message sent by Lagaan. The love story of Lagaan is more traditional to melodrama, with one

romantic interest being vied over by two opposing forces, the country girl, and the well to do

foreigner. Their story takes on a decidedly nationalist tone. Although the audience is led to

believe there is a legitimate challenge for the heart of team captain Bhuvan he professes his love

for childhood friend Gauri as a matter of fact, actually teasing her about her insecurity. In

contrast, Elizabeth, the British rival for his affections, professes her love for him leaving him so
confused he never even responds to the idea that there may be an attraction there. This outright

rejection of her is not depicted as culturally motivated but the fact that culture, language in this

case, is shown as coming between them is no mistake. The tone of his unrequited love of her is

written to allow him to be ignorant of her, a rarity in a period piece depicting a colonial Indian

and a white Britton. Lagaan takes a serious step away from the polite apathy depicted in The

Chess Players and makes an unveiled statement rejecting the need for depicting Indian-British

relationships. We see both films put the love story to use, but with sharply diverging messages

about identity.

The dramatic foil is the next dramatic device where we find serious departures between

the two melodramas. "This pairing of good and evil forces is a well established pattern in Hindi

films" (Bollywood, 81), indeed both films share a clear vision of who is good, Indians, and who

is evil, British, but each makes a slightly different argument about the Indo-British relationship.

The Chess Players offers a more complex view of the Indo-Brittish relation from the beginning

by showcasing a new-to-India British commander interrogating his orderly about the nature of

the Mughal King. This General Outram is exposed as clearly demeaning and racist, but his

orderly is anything but, having an appreciation for the King and even having some of his poetry

memorized for recitation on the spot. Even the villainous General later voices doubt to his

physician that he isn't justified in asking the King to abdicate. Because of these moments of

complex characterization there is a genuine humanity portrayed in the British who serve to foil

the King. The message this relays about the Indo-Briton relationship is muddled to the point of

accuracy, soldiers are, after all, just taking orders. On the other hand Lagaan takes no time

establishing their foil as a true villain. Captain Russell takes joy in terrifying the hero Bhuvan,

threatening to shoot him for making him look bad on a hunting trip, and also in trying to
humiliate the local Rajah by trying to coerce him into violating his faith by eating meat, and

finally outright beating a man out of racist frustration. There is almost no room for sympathy for

the British in Lagaan, they are credited with playing the Indian governments against each other

as well as being outright cruel at every opportunity. The only exception to this depiction is the

character Elizabeth who is excused by falling into a romantic love with Bhuvan and is also not in

the military and thus not in league with the British entity that Bhuvan and company rebel against.

The difference between the two depictions of the Indo-British relationship is clear. Ray's being

three-dimensional and forgiving, and Gowariker's simple and condemnable.

The use of production features also plays a significant role in understanding how the

change in melodrama supports a change in the narrative on national identity. Ray's production

leans heavily on the classic elements of dance, song, poetry, and theatre. Ever artistic, Ray cuts

the lighting and depth for key scenes especially in the high court where the King is depicted as

partaking in the classic art forms that he is famous for appreciating. This also includes many of

the song and dance numbers performed at the palace. This has the effect of giving the film an

overall classical feeling to it, an appeal to Indian identity as heritage based and relating to the last

days of India before Raj took effect. Looking to the future of Indian cultural heritage are the

production features of Lagaan. In true Bollywood fashion the use of song and dance are

completely apropos and downright extravagant needing the viewer to suspend any bounds of

realism while the music is playing. This over the top choreography, scoring, and composition go

hand in hand with the acting employed; "The film's stars have an ardent openness that recalls the

great silent-movie luminaries"("Lagaan" In the Western Press, 384). The overall effect of this

production style is the mark of new Bollywood which is in turn from old Hollywood. In a sense
this is a statement about the globalization of the Indian film market, an association of Indian film

and diverse global culture that isn't limited to influences from India.

Lastly the use of sport and games as an analogy for national identity also set the two

melodramas apart. In this area the two could not stand further apart. The namesake chess players'

cultural defeat is so bad that they decide to change how they play chess to the conquering Brits'

preferred rules immediately. That kind of loss on the cultural level just isn't something that has a

place in the simpler rebellious story of Lagaan who's result is the complete opposite; defeating

the British at their own game in a complete victory ending with Captain Russell's banishment

and probable off camera demise. Symbolically the two results have deep ramifications for the

portrayal of the Indian spirit in the face of adversity. There is another interpretation of this

metaphor as well with the games themselves take on their own meanings. Chess, being a game of

war from India, adds an extra dose of humility as one watches the British march over the Indian

sub-continent winning the real life game of war in India without having to actually take any

pieces, in fact using Indian soldiers as their own pieces. In chess terms that is as near to complete

domination as it gets. As chess is a game of wits the insinuation about the capabilities of Indians

is not flattering. Juxtaposed to this is the game of cricket, the invasive game is one of physical

ability, namely endurance. This multi day battle of fortitude and determination is shot over a full

hour as the Indian crew pulls off the upset through sheer determination, playing through

cheating, injury, and betrayal. This message about identity is as positive as it gets for taking on

anti-imperialist sentiments. The choice of platform, wits versus brawn, and the respective results,

exemplify the nature of the change that has occurred in using melodrama to portray national

identity.
 An exception must be noted to the movies' divergences on the issue of identity. Religion

is used in both movies slightly differently however in what can be seen as complimentary

depictions. For The Chess Players the coexistence of religions is illustrated primarily by the

actions of the Muslim King. The King is not only benevolent and concerned with the well being

of his mainly Hindu subjects but also takes part in their holidays and customs in court. There is

also the matter of the chess players and their Muslim lawyer, this is not a strong depiction

because it does not seem their relation is truly as friends, but that they respect him as a

reasonable man and that Ray shows his home as large, beautiful, and well staffed are certainly

not insults. In Lagaan we see a more outright argument for the place of religious unity as

characteristic of Indian identity. Despite early reservations by the setting's village Muslim

population they eventually come around and play an essential role in defeating the British as

their representative on the team fights through an injury to try and contribute. So opaque is the

film's message that there is even a dius ex machina mechanism employed to work a Sikh into the

team, literally having his character stroll out of the blue and onto the pitch from parts unknown

with little to no background or afterthought. All in all both movies agree that religious diversity

is and has been essential to the Indian national identity conversation.

Just as his character goes all in for his village actor-producer Aamir Kahn put a personal

fortune into his production Lagaan not because he needs anymore money but because he thought

it was his chance to beat the colonial powers toe to toe. That in itself is the message Lagaan

sends about the new Indian national identity in the poignant terms of the modern Indian

melodrama. That it is unapologetically strong, distinct, and global. Long gone are the 'could

haves' and 'should haves' of the previous generation's romance and philosophizing over the fall to

colonial rule. Where Ray glorifies the poetry of a selfless act of pacifism, Kahn replies it is better
to go down swinging. The success of Bollywood commercially seems to affirm this move away

from thoughtful reflection to more emotional arguments for self worth aimed at the masses. The

change of Indian melodrama is right in step with new Indian views of themselves as coming of

age as a world power. The lessons learned from foreign powers, whether in statecraft, cricket, or

in film production have given the Indian people platforms with which to leave their own mark on

the world. Of course the game is still changing, but now it is India's turn to teach.
 Works Cited

Binford, Mira Reym. “6 Innovation and Imitation in the Contemporary Indian Cinema.” Cinema

& Cultural Identity: Reflections on Films from Japan, India & China, Lanham UNiversity Press

of America, pp. 77–78

Gokulsing, K. Moti., and Wimal Dissanayake. "7 Recent Developments in Indian Popular

Cinema." Indian Popular Cinema: a Narrative of Cultural Change. Trentham, 2004.

Kabir, Nasreen Munni. "Chapter 4 The Villains and the Vamps." Bollywood: the Indian Cinema

Story. Channel 4 Books, 2001.

Rainer, Peter. “Big Bollyhoo.” New York Magazine.