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ReFocus: The International Directors Series

ReFocus: The Films of Zoya Akhtar

Edited by Aakshi Magazine and Amber Shields

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£20.99

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About this book

Examines the work of Hindi film director, screenwriter and producer Zoya Akhtar
  • Provides a contemporary study on the shift of the Hindi film industry by examining one of the leading directors of New Bollywood
  • Highlights the role of women filmmakers in popular, mainstream film industries
  • Of interest to Hindi film scholars as well as global feminist film students and scholars

From her relatively small-scale feature debut Luck By Chance (2009) to her recent premieres of Gully Boy (2019) and Made in Heaven (2019) to local and global audiences via the Berlin Film Festival and Amazon Prime Streaming services, Zoya Akhtar has become a prominent figure representing change in Bollywood. As the first collection on Akhtar, this book examines how she is contributing to a shift in one of the world’s leading film industries, and through analysis of her work explores the contradictions and possibilities of the present moment in Bollywood.

Reviews

Timely and engaging, ReFocus: The Films of Zoya Akhtar brings together a collection of essays that engage with Akhtar’s protean oeuvre, ranging from her star-driven Bollywood extravaganzas to her recent forays into more textured storytelling. These essays address Akhtar’s complex understanding of classed, gendered, and sexual subjectivities in India to her investments in the industry as a screenwriter and producer. What emerges through this anthology is not simply the portrait of a keenly observant artist/entrepreneur, but a snapshot of an industry undergoing enormous transformations.
Zoya Akhtar is a cultural force in popular Hindi cinema. Whether it is a critical look at the industry itself, affluent relationships and lifestyles in urban India, to the lived complexities of gully life, her cinema is on point. This fine collection of essays charts the career graph of Akhtar while offering us rich and layered readings of her key films. Including an interview with Zoya herself, we get more than academic perspectives but a lively and engaging project on modern cinema.
Table of contents

Introduction: Intersecting Industries - Aakshi Magazine and Amber Shields

Section 1: Growing up Industry

    1. Loving but Critical: The Empathetic Gaze of Luck by Chance - Aakshi Magazine

    2. Relocating Bollywood: Gully Boy and the New Ontologies of Film Music - Sangita Gopal

    3. New Forms, New Stories: Zoya Akhtar’s Short Films - Amber Shields

    4. Zoya Akhtar as a Screenwriter: Making Niche the New Mainstream - Vyoma Jha

    Section 2: Reworking Bollywood Themes

    5. The Heterotopia of Family Relationship in Dil Dhadakne Do - Debnita Chakravarti

    6. Sabka Time Aayega: Language and Identity in Gully Boy - Kamayani Sharma

    7. Homosexual Love: He is also Made in Heaven - Iqra Shagufta Cheema

    Section 3: A New Era of Gendered Politics

    8. Conflicted and Confused: The Changing Complexity of Masculinity in Zoya Akhtar’s Films - Amber Shields

    9. Señoritas at Work: Gendered Work, Aspiration and Leisure in the Films of Zoya Akhtar - Sharanya

    10. Self-made vs Self-respect: The Politics of Belonging in Zoya Akhtar’s Films - Vijeta Kumar

    Section 4: The Word and the Screen

    11. Deconstructing the Perception of ‘The Elite Class Filmmaker’ – Critical Analysis of Popular Film Reviews of Zoya Akhtar’s Cinema - Ruchi Jaggi and Mudita Mishra

    12. The Final Word: An Interview with Zoya Akhtar - Aakshi Magazine and Amber Shields

    About the contributors

    Aakshi Magazine

    Aakshi Magazine is a writer and academic based in India. She received her PhD in Film Studies from the University of St Andrews in 2020. Her doctoral thesis, The 1950s Hindi film song: Between transgression and memory, is on the relationship of the film song to the contradictions of the Indian nationalist discourse. She has published several journal articles, a book chapter and film criticism in popular publications.

    Amber Shields

    Amber Shields received her PhD in Film Studies from the University of St Andrews where she focused on how fantasy is used to tell stories of individual and collective trauma in films from around the world. She has taught Film and English courses at Mount Tamalpais College and currently works with nonprofits reimagining education and supporting the development of young leaders. She has published several journals articles and book chapters.

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