Objection, m'Lord

Cinematic Justice in Popular Hindi Films
Erscheinungsjahr 2027
ISBN: 978-0-19-792198-2
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm

From the impassioned defence counsel of Damini to the avenging vigilante of Sholay, popular Hindi cinema has long served as the primary socio-cultural site through which ordinary people form their expectations of justice and understanding of legal institutions. One of the first scholarly works to bring together law and cinema in an Indian context, Objection, M'Lord argues that both are crucial archives of Indian modernity, and that Hindi cinema is not merely a mirror of legal culture but an active participant shaping social and legal consciousness. Drawing on a diverse archive of films spanning seven decades, the book traces the many registers in which cinematic justice operates: the Constitutional imagination of the Nehruvian era, the melodrama of the courtroom, the ethics of revenge, the murky world of encounter killing, and the relationship between law and the senses. Central to the book's argument is the concept of cinemality, a porous boundary where cinema, legality, and criminality fold into each other. Moving beyond representation, Objection, M'Lord also examines cinema's life in law--as property, speech, and a contested object of regulation. Questions of censorship, copyright, and the evidentiary status of the moving image reveal that law and cinema are not merely thematic neighbours but intertwined institutional forces that significantly shape people's social perceptions and experiences.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Liang, Lawrence

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Awara's Constitutional Amendment: Love, Justice, and the Constitution

- 2: Coda: Shadow Courts and Minor Jurisprudence

- 3: Wild Justice: Time, Memory, and Vengeance

- 4: Cinemality and the Law of the Police

- 5: Cinema's Law: From Representation to Affect

- 6: The Properties of Film and Film as Property

- 7: An Optics of Justice: Visuality, Scepticism, and Evidence in Hindi Cinema

- Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Lawrence Liang is currently a Professor of Law at BML Munjal University. His work lies at the intersection of law, culture, and technology. A co-founder of the Alternative Law Forum and the Centre for Internet and Society, he was the founding Dean of the School of Legal and Socio-Political studies, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD). He has been a visiting scholar and visiting faculty at Yale University, Columbia University, Michigan University, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), The National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), and Bilkent University, among others. He was awarded the Infosys Prize for Social Sciences in 2017. Liang is also a co-founder of pad.ma, indiancine.ma, and Servants of Knowledge.