Book review: Juned Shaikh, Outcaste Bombay: City Making and the Politics of the Poor

Juned Shaikh, Outcaste Bombay: City Making and the Politics of the Poor. Orient BlackSwan, 2021, xii + 227 pp., ₹995.

“Cultured Women” do not act in films: Tracing Notions of Female Stardom in Bombay Cinema (1930s–1950s)

Women were absent from the archives and rendered as invisible within the film business that was changing the urban landscape of Bombay city in the 1930s through talkies. Questions were raised about female sexuality and respectability primarily due to a morality discourse closely associated with women acting in films. Tension, moral panic and distress had emerged from the dominant stigma regarding films making industries being a heterosexual and hybrid workspace. Moreover, an economy that capitalizes on voyeuristic pleasures of its male audience by objectifying women’s bodies. So, even though it offered women higher salaries unlike other professions, it was deemed as “dangerous” for women. Therefore, “cultured women”, essentially from the upper class, were discouraged from being a part of the studio film industry situated in the cosmopolitan Bombay city. Taking forward Neepa Majumdar’s (2009) dialogue on the denial of agency to women in Indian cinema, this paper traces the incorporation of feminist agenda into film making. This paper is limited to studying the biographical, autobiographical details and picturization of three eminent actresses: Nargis, Kanan Devi and Durga Khote. Further, I would elaborate on the struggles undertaken by them and the roles they played in films in order to deconstruct the notion of female stardom and an “ideal Indian woman” picturized in Bollywood from the 1930s–1950s. This period holds relevance in film historiography due to the ideological construction of female stardom that had its pros and cons which I would be discussing in depth through the paper.

Sanitizing Heritage—Hydraulic Water Supply and the Erosion of the Traditional Water Management System in Colonial Bombay City (1860–1947)

The traditional urban water management systems of Bombay (Mumbai) city consisted of tanks and wells constructed by charitable people of all creeds. But the entry of hydraulic engineering techniques, via the construction of Vihar Lake in 1860, ostensibly to supply pure and plentiful water heralded their doom. The modern but intrinsically flawed water supply system, unplanned urban development and the ensuing insanitation aggravated cholera and malaria epidemics, endemic to the city, threatening its imperial trade. This, and the desire to create sanitized colonies through town planning, encouraged Bombay municipality to attack the city’s tanks and wells, vilified as sources of pollution, despite protests of the local people. Based on an examination of archival sources, this article traces the history of colonial Bombay’s water management policy from 1860 and examines its impact on the city’s water inheritance, up to Indian independence in 1947. It aims to raise awareness levels about the potential importance of the surviving heritage, at a time when the spectre of insanitation and water scarcity haunts Mumbai.

Parsis and Bombay City

This chapter examines the important role of the Parsis in Bombay city. It notes the rise of Parsi influence and leadership in Bombay, the role of the Parsis in shaping Bombay's socio-political culture under colonialism, the role of the Parsis in Bombay's economy, and the important contributions of the Parsis to Bombay's physical space and culture through philanthropy and educational efforts. This chapter underscores how the Parsis contributions shaped a progressive and cosmopolitan culture in Bombay, and how the city fostered the aspirations of one of India's smallest communities.

The Perils of Proximity: Rivalries and conflicts in the making of a neighbourhood in Bombay City in the twentieth century

Rajnarayan Chandavarkar—Fellow of Trinity College and Reader in History at the University of Cambridge—passed away on 23 April 2006. In addition to a rich legacy of books and articles that were published in his lifetime, he left behind an enormous amount of manuscript material, much of which was ready for publication. A selection of this material was published in his posthumous History, Culture and the Indian City (Cambridge University Press, 2009), but new manuscripts continue to come to light. His wife, Jennifer Davis, recently found this essay among his effects. There is good reason to believe that Raj felt it was ready for publication. Therefore, we publish this essay almost exactly as it appears in his typescript, only correcting typos and minor errors, and adding a map. The editors would like to thank David Washbrook and Jennifer Davis for proofing this article, Uttara Shahani and Binney Hare for researching and adapting the map, and Francoise Davis for the photograph of Raj.