Popular Hindi films stars are a vast but still largely untapped area of academic interest. Within film studies, a number of articles and book chapters have probed the significance of stars as compelling personas, industry assets and bellwethers of larger social trends. As yet, though, there is no volume or collection that brings together a set of reflections on stars and stardom in one forum. This edited volume fills this gap with a sustained and diverse consideration of the phenomenon of stardom in contemporary Bollywood.

We believe that this is a particularly opportune moment to add to existing literature by taking a critical, in-depth look at stars individually and as a cohort. With the rise of social media and the intensified engagement of India in the global economy, stars in India are forging their identities not just through their on-screen images, and magazine and advertising appearances, but also through an intensified array of media platforms, product endorsements, and involvement in social causes. Theoretical contributions on western stars and their reception have relevance for Indian stars, but the conditions of the construction of stardom in India do not fully overlap with those in Hollywood. Stardom, in other words, is inseparable from fundamental shifts in India's media and culture. This book will offer the reader a theoretical analysis of stars and situate star making in a dynamic global context.

At the current stage of development of the project we are still looking for contributions on the following stars:

  1.   Aishwarya Rai
  2. Aamir Khan
  3. Ajay Devgan
  4. Akshay Kumar
  5. Anushka Sharma
  6. Deepika Padukone
  7. Farhan Akhtar
  8. Hrithik Roshan
  9. Kajol
  10. Rani Mukherjee
  11. Shahid Kapoor
  12. Kangana Ranaut
  13. Kareena Kapoor
  14. Katrina Kaif

We are also interested in contributions that tackle two or three stars who belong to an acknowledged film “category,” for example, the “item girl.” Other contemporary stars may be considered; please email the editors with your reasoning before submitting an abstract.

  • Last date of submitting abstract, in about 250 words: 30 October 2016
  • Last date of submitting complete chapter: 31 August 2017

Editors1

  • Aysha Iqbal Viswamohan (Dept of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Madras, India) draysha[at]iitm.ac.in
  • Clare Wilkinson (Dept of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, US) cmweber[at]wsu.edu
  • 1. About the Editors:

    Aysha Iqbal Viswamohan is professor in the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Madras. Her teaching /research interests include American literature, Drama, Film Studies and Popular Culture. She has published on films and popular culture in journals from Oxford, Cambridge, Routledge, and Sage. Her major books include: Arthur Miller: The Dramatist & His Universe, TR Publishers,(Chennai), 2005; Postliberalization Indian Novels in English, Anthem (London) 2013; and Contemporary Hindi Film Directors, Sage  (forthcoming).

    Clare Wilkinson is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Washington State University Vancouver, USA. Her interests include Arts and Media in Global Perspective, History of Anthropological Theory, and Speech, Thought and Culture. She has published journal articles in Ethnology, Visual Anthropology Review, Anthropological Quarterly, Ethnography, and Journal of Material Culture. Her books include Embroidering Lives: Women’s Work and Skill in the Lucknow Embroidery Industry, SUNY Press 1999; Fashioning Bollywood: The Making and Meaning of Costumes in the Hindi Film Industry, Bloomsbury Academic Press (formerly Berg Press), 2014; and Critical Craft: Technology, Capitalism and Globalization, co-edited with Alicia O. DeNicola (Bloomsbury).