Sixth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

‘Dhollywood’ or popular Gujarati films have a recent history. This regional film industry emerged in the 1930s and 1940s, flourished from the 1960s to the 1980s; however, it declined after the 1990s. In order to promote Gujarati films, the government of India exempted this genre in 2005. Taking Amrit Gangar’s ‘Gujarati Cinema’ published in the Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas as a starting point in lieu of the paucity of literature in English on this cinema, this paper aims to identify the current status of Gujarati films in the last decade. While the Gujarati cinema has attracted much attention in the last decade in the urban areas of Gujarat, the policy supporting the industry needs a thorough review. With a paucity of scholarly literature available on the subject, this paper attempts to create avenues for research on the Gujarati films, its importance, and its impact on the Gujarati community not only in the state of Gujarat, India but also on its diaspora spread across the globe.