Historical Continuities in South Asian Film Narratives:Contemporary Representations of Religious,Ethno-linguistic and Sexual Minorities

Abstract

The article attempts to examine the construction and representation of minority identities in the visual cultures of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, thereby endeavouring to establish a cinematic historiography of South Asia. Since the cinematic medium can accomplish what written history cannot, this article makes an effort to understand the underlying causes of linearity and simultaneity which are fortes of the moving image, with regard to visual construction and representation of religious, ethno-linguistic and sexual identities. The major objectives of this article are to establish a comparative framework for the study of South Asian cinema with focus on films from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, outline a possible theoretical structure for the future study of South Asian cinema, contextualize the intervening spaces between cinema and politics—particularly the realms of cinematic representation of religious or communal identities in South Asian cinema, categorise existing trends and observe transformations in the methodology of cinematic representation of identities.