Desiring Bollywood
Dr Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan explores the role of cinema in creating and sustaining affective, economic, and political ties between postcolonial nations in Africa and South Asia.
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Desiring Bollywood is a British Academy funded research project that explores the role of cinema in creating and sustaining effective, economic, and political ties between postcolonial nations in Africa and South Asia.
As a part of my ethnographic and archival methodology, I developed a collaborative performance and film component to the project that brings to life bring to life a script that Ola Jason, Jesse Weaver Shipley, and myself wrote about Ola Jason's experience as an aspiring actor and filmmaker from Nigeria who now lives in Delhi, India.
During our time together in Pune, India in the summer of 2018 we, along with an ensemble of actors, utilised devised theatre techniques and experimental cinematography to animate the script which narrates Ola Jason's story and highlights the various challenges he has faced on his way to becoming a successful actor and talent scout in Indian cinema.