The Hindi film orchestra

This chapter explores the Hindi film orchestra in historical, social and cinematic contexts. It charts the place, meaning and status of the western orchestra in Indian cinema from the silent era through the post-Independence period to the marked changes that have occurred since India’s liberalization from the 1990s. Although western classical music was not adopted and institutionalized in the mainstream in India (unlike East Asia, for example), this chapter demonstrates how it nevertheless became interwoven with Indian postcolonial modernity in a powerful yet largely background and thus unseen form through the cinema. Recently, with India’s intensive globalization, the orchestra is showing signs of acquiring a more visibly mediated status in Indian film music and in India more generally.