Towards a Transnational Indian Cinema

The late 20th and 21st century was characterised by the rise in numerous transnational cultural processes. Global arts, economic and political landscapes continue to undergo structuring and reconfiguration by this new transnational trend. This recent trend has created an imbalance and reconfigured recent cinema engagements-the Indian cinema inclusive, thereby creating what is known as transnational Bollywood cinema. Transnational Bollywood is the Indian cinema culture of the Global Disapora-an attempt to make Bollywood intercontinental and cosmopolitan. The questions that emanate at this juncture are: what makes a cinema transnational? Should Bollywood be referred to as transnational cinema? How has transnational Bollywood influenced other film cultures across the globe? While this study seeks to proffer answers to these questions, I also examine transnational cinema in perspective. I adopt literary and content analysis methods to interrogate transnational trends in global cinemas. This study reveals that transnational Bollywood films have defined a new India cinema culture. Furthermore, Kannywood-the indigenous film industry of the Hausa-Fulani people of Nigeria is a paradigm of the influence of transnational Bollywood. Transnational Bollywood has not only placed the Indian film industry into the centre of discourse, it has also given Bollywood global recognition. I conclude that with the rapid growth in globalisation, transnationalism will not only continue to pervade world cinemas, it will also deconstruct and reconfigure traditional cultural processes.