Abstract
This article identifies and analyses a selection of Hindi films between 1942 and
1991 in which pianos are used for songs. The number of such films is not great and
thus the piano is theorized as cameo – it arrives on-screen and in the soundtrack
with a clear purpose in order to reference a set of symbols from outside the film’s
narrative. Consequently, it represents not only a nostalgia for the recent colonial
condition, but also a host of cultural ideologies associated with westernization. By
compiling the list and analysing this set of films, we attempt to more clearly understand the symbolic meanings indexed through the picturization, and to contribute to a theorization of musical symbolization in film.
1991 in which pianos are used for songs. The number of such films is not great and
thus the piano is theorized as cameo – it arrives on-screen and in the soundtrack
with a clear purpose in order to reference a set of symbols from outside the film’s
narrative. Consequently, it represents not only a nostalgia for the recent colonial
condition, but also a host of cultural ideologies associated with westernization. By
compiling the list and analysing this set of films, we attempt to more clearly understand the symbolic meanings indexed through the picturization, and to contribute to a theorization of musical symbolization in film.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 3-20 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Studies in South Asian Film and Media |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2018 |
Keywords
- piano
- score
- colonialism
- instrument
- symbolism
- westernization