Table of Contents

Introduction Part 1: Indian Epics in Film 1. Bending the Bharata: Two Uncommon Cinematic Adaptations Philip Lutgendorf 2. Family, Feminism, and Film in Remaking the Ramayana Vidyut Aklujkar Part 2. Casting Classical Sanskrit Drama 3. Sakuntala: The Look and the Image in Literature, Theatre, and Cinema Gayatri Chatterjee 4. Mrcchakatikam to Utsav: Recreation of a Sanskrit Classic by Girish Karnad Vidyut Aklujkar Part 3. Saints on the Screen 5. Bhakti Songs Recast: Gulzar’s Meera Movie Heidi Pauwels Part 4. Genre and Themes from Indo-Islamic Culture 6. Religious Culture and Folklore in the Urdu Historical Drama Anarkali, Revisited by Indian Cinema Alain Désoulières 7. From Ghazal to Film Music: The Case of Mirza Ghalib Naseem Hines Part 5. Classics from Colonial Literature 8. Remembering, Repeating, and Working through Devdas Corey K. Creekmur 9. The Political Aesthetic of Nation and Gender in Rituparno Ghosh’s Chokher Bali Mandakranta Bose Part 6. Agenda-Driven Literature 10. Lyrically Speaking: Hindi Film Songs and the Progressive Aesthetic Ali Mir 11. Dharmputra and the Partition of India Cecilia Cossio. Conclusion

About the Author

Heidi Pauwels is Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington in Seattle. She teaches both Modern and Old Hindi language and literature, and courses on Hinduism. Her publications include two monographs on sixteenth-century bhakti: Krsna's round dance reconsidered: Hariram Vyas's Hindi Ras-pancadhyayi (1996) and In praise of holy men: Hagiographic poems by and about Hariram Vyas (2002) and various articles in scholarly journals and conference proceedings, including comparisons of medieval and contemporary film and television retellings of the stories of Krishna and Rama.