Qissa and Popular Hindi Cinema
Qissa and Popular Hindi Cinema
This chapter examines the presence of the Persio-Arabic qissa (story) of Majnun Laila in Hindi cinema. Given that much of Hindu tradition is not focused on stories of romantic love, or in presenting a template for the idealised marital union through the figures of Rama and Sita in the epic Ramayana, the Persio-Arabic qissa has come to provide a template for the hero in Hindi films in the form of the infatuated Majnun, and the object of his desire in the garb of Laila — creating a sensual image of the Muslim female as a site of forbidden desire. As such, the qissa of Majnun Laila is used to disrupt the dharmic principle, with the lovers meeting a tragic end because of this, but the story has been reincarnated so many times in Hindi cinema that it shows the deep implication of the Islamic in the Hindu.
Keywords: Hindi cinema, qissa, Majnun Laila, dharmic principle, Islam, Ramayana
Columbia Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
