Gender, Culture, and Performance : Marathi Theatre and Cinema before Independence

This book presents a lucid, comprehensive, and entertaining narrative of culture and society in late 19th- and early 20th-century Maharashtra through a perceptive study of its theatre and cinema. An intellectual tour de force, it will be invaluable to scholars and researchers of modern Indian history, theatre and film studies, cultural studies, sociology, gender studies as well as the interested general reader.

This book captures the social and cultural history of Maharashtra from the 1840s to Independence. Tracing the emergence and the developmental stages of Marathi theatre and cinema, the volume unravels how public entertainment formed an integral part of culture, while also discussing defining moments in theatre, major playwrights, actors, the young film industry as well as gender politics in the realm of the stage and silver screen.