The representation of the Sociocultural Landscape of India through Bollywood cinema costumes from the early 20th to the 21st century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.894Keywords:
Hindi cinema, Bollywood, Film costume, Narrative culture, Popular media, Stereotypes, Masquerade, PasticheAbstract
This research compiles a year-by-year trajectory of Bollywood film history, delving into characterizations, fashion as an engaging spectacle, the fantastical world through dress, and the power of stardom to launch aspirational worlds through costumes to the general public. Data analyzed through visual analysis, archival studies, audience reaction analysis, comparisons between Bollywood and regional movies, and Intertextual studies lead us to the framework of this research, analyzed along a historical-political, social stratification, gender-sexuality, and modernity-versus-tradition axis. The research finally identifies six historical costume regimes from 1913 to the present, with the dominant ideological formations of each era defined as: Colonial ambivalence, Nation-building idealism, Feudal romanticism, Liberalization and NRI imagery, Niche identity and hyperreal spectacle leading to an identity crisis, naturalized through Bollywood costumes.
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