Networked Bollywood

"Networked Bollywood provides the first interdisciplinary analysis of the role of stars in the transformation of Hindi cinema into a global entertainment industry. The first Indian film was made in 1913. However, filmmaking was recognized as an industry almost a hundred years later though Indian films have been circulating globally since their inception. This book unearths this oft-elided history of Bollywood's globalization through multilingual, transnational research and discursive cultural analysis. It illustrates how, over the decades, a handful of primarily male megastars, as the heads of the industry's most prominent productions and corporations, combined overwhelming charismatic affect with unparalleled business influence. Through their 'star switching power', theorized here as a deeply gendered phenomenon and manifesting broader social inequalities, India's most prominent stars instigated new flows of cinema and industrial collaborations, structured distinctive business models, and influenced state policy and diplomatic exchange, thereby defining the future of Bollywood's globalization"--