Introduction

In the autumn of 2017 we entered the second year of our PhDs under the supervision of Professor Rajinder Dudrah and were tasked with organising a conference which sought to bring together the next generation of Bollywood scholars. It was a natural choice and fit for our research topics – Dalit representation in Bollywood is Vishal’s area of enquiry and white femininity in Bollywood is Alexandra’s. Beyond our immediate academic focus, it seemed timely, too. The MeToo movement was gaining momentum internationally, extending to India and Bollywood, and India was beginning to think about forthcoming elections in 2019. Representation in Bollywood was the obvious choice with so much rich social and political material to draw on. Our interests specifically were the contemporary representations that have emerged from the context of post-1990s Bollywood to the present moment. The impact of liberalisation has been profound, and India’s entertainment industry has sought to keep pace with global trends on the one hand and define and sustain ‘Indian’ cultural values on the other. These processes are very much part of contemporary Indian society and consequently reflected in the creation of film, too. It was exciting to receive submissions from around the world and to see the diverse areas of Bollywood scholarship that our contemporaries are engaged in. After a careful and strenuous review, we invited nine scholars from four regions of the world to join us in May 2018 at Birmingham City University. We were delighted that Professor Rachel Dwyer, who has been a significant an influence on our work as our supervisor Professor Dudrah, accepted and attended to give the keynote speech on ageing masculinity in Bollywood, examining the case of Salman Khan specifically. The conference was a success and forged a nascent network of emerging Bollywood scholars. Connections were made and friendships formed. It was exciting for a group of interdisciplinary scholars to meet, in-person, and share their research. It’s not often we get such an opportunity, so we are thankful to Professor Dudrah for his initial encouragement and constant support, to our secondary supervisor Professor John Mercer for his support, to Professor Dwyer for her excellent keynote contribution and feedback on the papers presented, to Professors Priya Jha and Anjali Roy for coming all the way from the US and India, respectively, to chair panels for us, to Birmingham City University for allowing us to host such a meaningful event, to our wonderful co-presenters for travelling from near and far to share their research and last but certainly not least to Professor Gita Rajan for her enthusiasm for the project and supporting the development of our dossier.