The encounter contains the threat of moral ambivalence, but also gives rise to a sense of exhilaration.

The two responses generated two kinds of cinematic treatment, even two generic possibilities: one defined by an older contrast between the country and the city, tradition and modernity, and the other celebrating the existential ‘freedom’ of the city.

We shall try to see what these divergent responses meant in terms of film language, and how the encounter with the city contributed to the new popular form that emerged in the post-independence era.

Readings:

Kaviraj, Sudipta, “Reading a Song of the City -- Images of the City in Literature and Films” (download here)
M. Madhava Prasad, “Realism and Fantasy in Representations of Metropolitan Life in Indian Cinema”, From City Flicks, Indian Cinema and the Urban Experience, edited by Preben Kaarsholm (Calcutta: Seagull Books, 2004) (download here)
Biswas, Moinak. "From Space to Location." positions: east asia cultures critique, vol. 25 no. 1, 2017, pp. 9-28 (download here)