Starting Today: Course Description

Indian Melodrama through Western Eyes (2 credits)

Teacher: Anna Pesonen-Smith

Course outline:

Learn to look at the specifics of Indian melodramatic devices in the popular Hindi film, Bollywood and the Bengali art film through the works of the three masters: Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen.

The course is also about looking at the cinema of other cultures via analysis and criticism. Each topic is given two classes which involve a lecture with samples, small tasks and film watching. The topics are the following:

1. Indian melodrama, form and content (lecture and film watching),

2. Indian popular Hindi film and Bollywood (lecture and film watching) and
3. Bengali art cinema, directors Ray, Ghatak and Sen (lecture and film watching).

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on attendance, classroom participation and on having completed their independent task on time. The final work is to review Indian cinema from the perspectives that have been learned.

Course timings and place:

Tue 17.3.2015, Wed 18.3, Thu 19.3, Tue 24.3, Wed 25.3. and Thu 26.3. at 16-19 in Ada.

Deadline for final independent task: 2.4. at 12.00.