Essay Instructions: Please log on on this website using account and password:
tonyhan10
Some links of readings will help you do this paper, and the instructions are below:
here are the topics for your second paper and it is due on the APRIL 18th. Please note the deadline and make sure you finish this in time.
Your second paper shall be 4-5 pages long and is an open ended assignment. The idea is that you will write on something other than written sources. i.e., on films, or other cultural information.
1. You can write on a film. Here I have listed several films below and they all explicitly deal with the themes we have discussed so far: the making of modern India. I have added IMDB links to all the films. You could also consult www.upperstall.com for information on films and filmmakers. If you want to write on a different film, send me an email with details of the film, how it deals with the theme of colonialism and modern world and why you want to write about it. This has to be done before the 11th.
Please make sure you get started now itself so that you could access these films, either through a neighborhood public library or netflix or the SFSU library / Academic Technologies.
FILM LIST:
Kim (1950), based on the novel by the same name by Rudyard Kipling.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042644/
Kim, a young boy living on his own on the streets of India, is actually the son of a British officer. He meets a lama, a holy man, and devotes himself to his tending. But when British administrators discover his birthright, he is placed in a British school. His nature, however, is opposed to the regimentation expected for the son of a British soldier, and he rebels. His familiarity with Indian life and his ability to pass as an Indian child allows him to function as a spy for the British as they attempt to thwart revolution and invasion of India. Rejoining his holy man, Kim (with the help of daring adventurer Mahbub Ali) takes on a dangerous mission
Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977), based on the Premchand story which we read; directed by Satyajit Ray, the great Indian filmmaker. we watched parts of this film and you can find it on YOUTUBE. I have posted that link in my notes a few weeks ago.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076696/
Junoon (1977), which we watched in the class and focuses on the Sepoy Mutiny
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077783/
A Passage to India (1984), by David Lean and based on the novel of the same name by E M Forster
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0087892/
Lagaan (2001)
http://www.spout.com/films/Lagaan_Once_Upon_a_Time_In_India/196749/default.aspx
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169102/
Starring Aamir Khan, Rachel Shelley, Paul Blackthorne, Gracy Singh
One of the most expensive films ever to come out of Bollywood, Lagaan tells the tale of the Indian village Champaner, beset by drought and British colonialism in the year 1893. Without a drop of rain in months, the worried villagers of Champaner decide to ask the local authorities for a temporary repeal of their taxes -- the hated lagaan. Led by the heroic Bhuvan (Indian superstar Aamir Khan) they bring their plight to the military governor, Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne). But the sadistic Russell threatens to raise the lagaan threefold, unless the villagers can beat his men at a game of cricket, in which case he'll lift taxes on the entire province for a period of three years. Bhuvan accepts the challenge, but there's a problem -- no one in Champaner knows how to play cricket. A band of misfits come to the rescue, coached by Russell's soft-hearted sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), and the race is on to be ready in three months' time. An epic reworking of Victory with eye-popping song-and-dance routines, Lagaan was a major cinematic event in India upon its release. ~ Connor McMadden, All Movie Guide
Earth (1998) by Deepa Mehta, a film on Indian Partition.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150433/
Do Bigha Zamin (1953) by Bimal Roy on rural poverty and changes taking place in Indian society in the 20th century
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045693/
Kandahar (2001) Nafas is a reporter who was born in Afghanistan, but fled with her family to Canada when she was a child. However, her sister wasn't so lucky; she lost her legs to a land mine while young, and when Nafas and her family left the country, her sister was accidentally left behind. Nafas receives a letter from her sister announcing that she's decided to commit suicide during the final eclipse before the dawn of the 21st century; desperate to spare her sister's life, Nafas makes haste to Afghanistan, where she joins a caravan of refugees who, for a variety of reasons, are returning to the war-torn nation. As Nafas searches for her sister, she soon gets a clear and disturbing portrait of the toll the Taliban regime has taken upon its people
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283431/
Matrubhoomi (2001), which we will watch and discuss next week.
Swades (2004), on a NASA engineer who returns to India and attempts to develop rural India
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367110/
You could also write about the documentary film on Outsourcing which we watched and discussed earlier in the semester.
30 days Outsourcing in India: http://www.guba.com/watch/9
A laidoff programmer from the US goes to India looking for his job. What he found is probably something he would have never imagined.
3. Indian traditions of dance, music or yoga. You could pick any one and write an essay. I would like you to use not only videos and documentaries but also scholarly sources (journal articles or books).
4. Indian cuisine. You could visit any South Asian restaurant, and write about the food. It shouldn't be simply a restaurant review. You should talk to the chefs and read a little about Indian cuisine. I recommend you also read a book or two on Indian cuisine if you choose to write on this.
5. A report on a temple or Gurudwara. You could visit a temple (Hindu or Sikh) and write about your observations. Make sure you also talk to people (priests as well as devotees), write on the practices and rituals you noticed.
