Film(i) Culture after Film: Lip-sync Media and the Expanded Archive of Hindi Cinema

This article considers the remediation of Hindi cinema's filmi culture in the citational practices of digital media. Foregrounding a case study of the lip-sync video on platforms such as Dubsmash and TikTok, it traces the formation of an expanded archive of Hindi cinema, one which reveals this cinema as less a canon of films than a repertoire of gestures, expressions and style offered up for use to a non-traditional cinephiliac public. The article argues, however, that such an archival view of a historical filmi culture is possible only because of the recession of a filmi culture organised around the sign of cinema to one organised around the sociality of platforms. Among other things, it attributes this shift to the passing of the masala film. The article then pays particular attention to this form as an assemblage of detachable parts primed for circulation. It finally addresses the emergence of a new industrial reflexivity in response to the currency of filmi style in an age of platforms.

Automated summary

This article explores the remediation of Hindi cinema's filmi culture in digital media through citational practices. By focusing on lip-sync videos on platforms like Dubsmash and TikTok, it examines the development of an expanded archive of Hindi cinema, which presents cinema not only as a collection of films, but as a repertoire of gestures, expressions, and styles available for use by non-traditional cinephiles. The article argues that this archival view is made possible by the shift from a cinema-centered filmi culture to a platform-centered one, with the decline of masala films playing a significant role. Furthermore, the article highlights the detachable parts and circulation of masala films, and discusses the emergence of a new industrial reflexivity in response to the popularity of filmi style in the era of platforms.