Urban History and Bombay Cinema since 1992

This thesis studies the urban history of Mumbai from the perspective of popular Hindi films. The change of the name from Bombay to Mumbai in 1995 is symbolic of the transition of the colonial city from a centre of industrial capitalism to a neoliberal city, characterised by finance capital. It also signals the massive changes in the social and the political spheres of the city. Thomas Blom Hansen's Violence in Urban India starts its narrative of the city with a conversation that the author had on a suburban train, few weeks before the official rechristening. He asked an elderly gentleman about his reaction to the proposed change of the city's name from Bombay to Mumbai. While poring over an article in the English daily, Times of India, regarding the change of name of the city, the gentleman promptly answered: "its proper name is Bombay."