Hindi Action Cinema : Industries, Narratives, Bodies/Valentina Vitali. New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2008, xxxiv, 266 p., photographs, ISBN 0-19-569244-6.

    Contents: Note on the transliteration of film titles and names. Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. The 1920s. 2. Women in action films in the1920s and 1930s. 3. Interlude: the 1950s. 4. The 1960s. 5. The 1970s. 6. Contemporary action cinema. Bibliography. Index. 

    "Irrespective of class, culture, and religion, cinema is one of the driving passions in the Indian subcontinent. Hindi Action Cinema is the first book to cover the history of action films made in Bombay. 

    The book open with the silent period, tracing the emergence of the genre in the mid-1920s, when women also began to feature in action roles. Then it examines the socio-economic factors responsible for the films and popularity of figures like Master Vithal, Ermeline, Fearless Nadia, Dara Singh, Amitabh Bachchan as well as other, more contemporary figures of Hindi action cinema.

     Considering the social ground that shaped these films' mode of action and their distinctive mise en scene, Hindi Action Cinema examine the changing economies of film production, distribution, and exhibition in Bombay over eight decades. In the process, the book raises new questions about the nature of this film genre and challenges established conceptualizations of the relationship between a film and its socio-economic context.

    The book will appeal to students and scholars of film and cultural studies as well as to the general reader interested in Indian Cinema." (jacket) 

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