India is the largest producer and consumer of feature films in the world, far outstripping Hollywood in the number of movies released and tickets sold every year. Cinema quite simply dominates Indian popular culture, and has for many decades exerted an influence that extends from clothing trends to music tastes to everyday conversations, which are peppered with dialogue quotes. With House Full, Lakshmi Srinivas takes readers deep into the moviegoing experience in India, showing us what it’s actually like to line up for a hot ticket and see a movie in a jam-packed theater with more than a thousand seats. Building her account on countless trips to the cinema and hundreds of hours of conversation with film audiences, fans, and industry insiders, Srinivas brings the moviegoing experience to life, revealing a kind of audience that, far from passively consuming the images on the screen, is actively engaged with them. People talk, shout, whistle, cheer; others sing along, mimic, or dance; at times audiences even bring some of the ritual practices of Hindu worship into the cinema, propitiating the stars onscreen with incense and camphor. The picture Srinivas paints of Indian filmgoing is immersive, fascinating, and deeply empathetic, giving us an unprecedented understanding of the audience’s lived experience—an aspect of Indian film studies that has been largely overlooked.

During World War II and the last days of British occupation in India, fifteen-year-old Vidya dreams of attending college. But when her forward-thinking father is beaten senseless by the British police, she is forced to live with her grandfather’s large traditional family, where the women live apart from the men and are meant to be married off as soon as possible. Vidya’s only refuge becomes her grandfather’s upstairs library, which is forbidden to women. There she meets Raman, a young man also living in the house who relishes her intellectual curiosity. But when Vidya’s brother makes a choice the family cannot condone, and when Raman seems to want more than friendship, Vidkya must question all she has believed in. Padma Venkatraman’s debut novel poignantly shows a girl struggling to find her place in a mixedup world. Climbing the Stairs is a powerful story about love and loss set against a fascinating historical backdrop. Read Padma Venkatraman's posts on the Penguin Blog.

Provides a radical re-orientation of the way we understand the nature of imperial sovereignty in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Born into privilege and wealth, Murlidhar Devidas Amte was a maverick who wanted to live life to the fullest. He realized early on that he had to live, not for himself, but for others - or else all his privilege, position and superior personal qualities would be mere tinsel. The pioneering commune at Anandwan, where those affected by leprosy could live with dignity and pride; the Bharat Jodo marches across the length and breadth of India to promote national unity and harmony; the decade-long vigil by the Narmada river in solidarity with those at the receiving end of state-sponsored environmental devastation - Baba Amte did this and much more, coping the whole time with a crippling spinal degenerative disease. The countless lives transformed by three generations of the Amte family are shining testimonials to the magnitude of Baba Amte's vision, and the indomitable spirit that made that vision real. With in-depth conversations with Baba, and interviews with many of his close friends and family, this biography is equally a record of the collective memory of those who have known him best. What emerges is an intimate portrait of one of the few individuals of our times who have embodied the cherished ideals of compassion and selfless service.

This volume explores the effects of the religious transformation taking place in India as sacred symbols assume the shapes of media images. Lifted from their traditional forms and contexts, many religious symbols, beliefs, and practices are increasingly refracted through such media as god posters, comic books, audio recordings, and video programs. The ten original essays here examine the impact on India's traditional social and cultural structures of printed images, audio recordings, film, and video. Contributors: Lawrence A. Babb, Steve Derné, John Stratton Hawley, Stephen R. Inglis, John T. Little, Philip Lutgendorf, Scott L. Marcus, Frances W. Pritchett, Regula Burckhardt Qureshi, H. Daniel Smith, and Susan S. Wadley.