JOURNAL ARTICLE

Where Adab Meets Film: Mapping Discourses on Akhlaq and Islah in the Urdu Film Journals from India (1930–1950).

  • Published In: Bioscope: South Asian Screen Studies, 2023, v. 14, n. 1. P. 80 1 of 3

  • Database: Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Niazi, Sarah Rahman 3 of 3

Abstract

This article examines the role of Urdu film journals in India during the 1930s and 1940s, highlighting their significance within the cinematic public sphere and their engagement with the Hindi-Urdu language divide. It explores how Urdu film journals such as Film, Shama, Star, Film Stage, and Nigarkhana negotiated tensions between literary culture and cinema, particularly through debates on akhlaq (moral conduct) and islah (reform). The article also discusses the marginalization of Urdu film journals in film historiography and archives, the formation of the Film Journalists Association of India, and the journals' efforts to assert Urdu's place in cinema amid communal and linguistic contestations. By blending literary genres with film content, these journals expanded cinema's cultural reach while grappling with issues of ethics, language politics, and audience morality.

Additional Information

  • Source:Bioscope: South Asian Screen Studies. 2023/06, Vol. 14, Issue 1, p80
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:History
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:0974-9276
  • DOI:10.1177/09749276231172115
  • Accession Number:170062010
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