There is a book that I've got to get my hands on - Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of South Asian Diasporic Film - by Jigna Desai 2004, Routledge

Bollywood has attracted a lot of academic study, so I was actually pleased to see this book, which

" At one level, it is the first study of South Asian Diasporic cinema and hence it asks questions generally considered of interest to those wanting to understand the emergence of this cinema...."

It appears that a lot of analysis has been done on the films by Ms. Desai and a theoretical framework called the "Brown Atlantic" has been evolved to study the films.

Like each genre of films has a framework to establish its self within,eg: cinema noir, feminist etc we now have a framework for the South Asian Diasporic film.

I believe once a film fits into a genre, its aesthetics become predictable, the plot and narrative becomes contrived making the films easier to analyze and not challenging to watch.

I chose to research on "Diaspora Films" for largely personal reasons, the movies are trying to question yet build on a culture there are so far removed from. Myself, (the researcher) being from India has largely those same questions.

1. What does it mean to be Indian?

2. Why is our identity as Indians so important to us?

3. Do these films treat our confusions?

There are a lot of answers that come to mind, but I'd rather research on them and create a Ph.D dissertation.


PS: One of the reasons I loved Kill Bill I, the juxtaposition of all genres, thereby breaking the film theorists framework.