Indian cinema, now marking its centenary, is not synonymous with "Bollywood", the term applied to Hindi-language popular cinema from Mumbai (formerly Bombay).
India also offers productions in regional languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri and Bengali, plus "art cinema" - whose best-known filmmaker is Satyajit Ray - in various languages. There is "independent cinema" catering to English-speaking metropolitan audiences, and a "B category" cinema in Hindi, producing films shown mainly in the small towns of northern India and often featuring elements of horror and magic.
Still another category is "diaspora cinema" produced around the world, in English by filmmakers such as Mira Nair (The Reluctant Fundamentalist, 2013) and Deepa Mehta (Midnight's Children, 2012).
The art cinemas in various Indian languages, having grown up in part thanks to state sponsorship, are fairly alike in concerns and form.
But India's various popular cinemas are not all alike, and the differences among them are not restricted to language. They address different identities; the language communities sometimes transcend national boundaries, as when Tamil cinema is followed avidly in Malaysia.
"Bollywood" is a recent, global appellation, but mainstream Hindi cinema tried to address national concerns even under colonial rule.
Hindi films' subject matter and treatment have constantly evolved, reflecting changes in social and political concerns.
In the early days, Hindi films addressed people across the country, many of whom knew little Hindi. So they restricted their vocabulary to a handful of words - such as love, justice, good, bad, thief and kill. Consequently, understanding a Hindi film is extremely simple.
These films allowed people across a vast territory to feel that they were part of one nation. They assisted in creating a sense of nationhood. These films also had a clear moral discourse, supporting honesty, true love and concern for the poor.
By addressing public concerns, Hindi cinema made itself political, but never explicitly so. Rather, it couched political concerns in the language of myth. Its method was allegorical and covert.
Its most successful directors were those closest in sensibility to the audience - Raj Kapoor and Mehboob Khan, rather than auteurs such as Guru Dutt and Bimal Roy - and they shared the same concerns, subconsciously. But foreign audiences could also relate to Hindi cinema, although usually as timeless parables rather than as tracts pertinent to current affairs.
Hindi cinema developed a language which depended on the philosophical preoccupations of the subcontinent. Rather than deal with individuals, it dealt with archetypes and stereotypes, and these came to represent the political entities and players of the time.
At key moments in modern Indian history, new motifs appear.
During colonial rule, social scientists suggest, the Indian public suffered from a crisis of masculinity; this finds reflection in Hindi cinema in the motif of the weak man - and its converse, the strong woman. Devdas (1935), for instance, is about a weak young man, his tyrannical father, the strong woman he cannot wed because of family compulsions, and his descent into alcoholism.
In the first films after independence, policemen and judges, who had come to represent the moral authority of the state, acquired a new gravitas. The courtroom became sacred as the place where truth cannot be denied. A morally erring judge can himself be indicted in court (Awaara, 1951).
Lawyers also began to turn up, representing a politically powerful class - most of India's new leaders were lawyers.
Another motif of importance is the rich-poor divide, which appears strongly after 1950.
Until that year, prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's political plans had faced opposition within the Congress from another important leader, Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
But he died in 1950 and after his death, Nehru went ahead with his socialist programme - which translated on to Hindi-cinema screens as the need for the rich to care for the poor (in, for example, Amar, 1954).
Nehru wanted a modern India, but traditionalists were wary of such changes. The mixed feelings towards modernisation were reflected in two motifs, "good modernity" represented by the doctor (as in Baazi, 1951) and "bad modernity" by the gambler, the nightclub and western-style dance.
Also important in this period was the notion of the city, as an emblem of Nehruvian modernity. If the city is a reason for optimism in Aar Paar (1954), it also has negative connotations as in Barsaat (1949) and Kala Bazar (1960).
Other motifs of importance include secularism, which becomes significant in films as early as 1943 when it became evident that Hindus and Muslims would have to live together in independent India (Humayun, 1945).
Then came agrarian unrest and land reform in the 1950s (Mother India, 1956). Also important is the virtuous mother, who became a cinematic emblem of the nation (as in Awaara, 1951, and Mother India, 1956).
As may be expected, the emerging stars who populated these films had personalities and images that help them appear as relevant social types. Ashok Kumar, for instance, played the androgynous hero before 1947 (in Azad, 1940), while Dilip Kumar portrayed a man overwhelmed by existential freedom in the1950s (in Babul, 1950).
Dev Anand was the morally ambivalent figure not given to scruples but who still reforms (in Baazi, 1951). Raj Kapoor developed his character, on the basis of Chaplin's Tramp (in Shri 420, 1955), as a poor man who recognises the corruption in society. Hindi cinema has always been patriarchal; the most important female star was Nargis, who played the independent woman/mother in the late 1940s and 1950s (as in Andaz, 1949).
A period of great optimism for India opened in 1950, and the popular Hindi cinema took up the task of addressing the modern independent nation in earnest.
But all that ended in 1962, with India's defeat in the Sino-Indian War. After that, Hindi cinema retreated into social unresponsiveness for several years. Escapist entertainment - gadgets, foreign locations and glamour - flourished.
The ascent of Indira Gandhi around 1970 was the next important moment for Hindi cinema, which responded to her brand of populist radicalism. A key creation in this period is the "Angry Young Man" as played by Amitabh Bachchan (Deewar, 1975).
Hindi cinema perhaps began to retreat from its socio-political function after 1991-92 when India abandoned socialism and embraced the free market. After this, Hindi cinema begins to deal exclusively with the rich (as in Hum Aapke Hain Koun…!, 1994).
Patriotism directed outside the nation (Border, 1998) replaces intra-national economic conflict (Damini, 1992) as thematic content.
Gradually, after that, Hindi popular cinema turned into the Bollywood we know, a global artefact addressing non-resident South Asians much more than it speaks to rural Indians.
The globalisation of India has split the nation as never before and while an English-speaking urban class has risen, the rural public has been left behind. This means that Bollywood has also divided, so that some films celebrate material advancement (Three Idiots, 2009) while others uphold feudal virtues (Dabangg, 2010).
The rise of Salman Khan as a top star can be understood as the resistance of rural/semi-urban India to global/anglophone India.
Bollywood has been hugely successful economically, but one envisages a future for it as a global brand, with only restricted connections to the Indian nation, just as Coca-Cola is today a global brand, no longer intrinsically American.
MK Raghavendra is the author of Seduced by the Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema, and 50 Indian Film Classics
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
How to help or find other cats to adopt
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THE SPECS
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Price, base: Dh228,000 / Dh232,000 (est)
Engine: 5.7-litre Hemi V8
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What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Specs
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
