Paper short abstract:

Is the aesthetic pattern of Bengali popular films experiencing changes now? Are the nascent forms really posing challenges to the dominant politics of representation? How can it be conceptualized? This paper tries to address these questions considering the recent popular movements in West Bengal.

Paper long abstract:

This paper looks at the aesthetic amalgamation of resistance of a sequence of political conflicts that have been taking place in West Bengal in the last few years. Interestingly, in a significant number of recent Bengali popular films, this impetus is allusively manifested. Here, I shall try to construct a frame of reference to reckon the process of traffic between the space of resistance and the domain of film aesthetics. For my discussion, I wish to take two recent films: MLA Fatakesto (2005) and Tulkalam (The Tumult, 2007). The first film portrays the emergence of a rowdy as minister and the other one deals with the issue of land-eviction.

Now, the questions are: Does the scaffolding of conflict narratives in these films challenges the ubiquitous hegemony of Bengali bhadralok (educated, cultured elite) archetype? Does it bear the notion of assertion of the governed? Are the metaphorical representations, use of violence as tactics, re-invented populist rhetoric now reinforcing a symptomatic assemblage?

To address the above, I shall apply the Rancierian scheme to locate the changes in the dominant aesthetic form. To revisit the historicity of the bhadralok culture, I would like to engage mostly with the readings of Partha Chatterjee. Also, Laclau's position on populist politics needs to be discussed here. Apart from that, I shall try to incorporate the outcomes of a number of field surveys done in 2007-08 to associate and to ground the theoretical formulation with the popular gesture of counter-hegemonic initiatives in the state.