In a relational space: Vernacular figures of Bollywood

This article assesses regional depictions in Omkara, Ishqiya, and Masaan to examine the primacy of affectivities in narratives that stem from and reflect vernacular, lived spaces. It identifies a shift from ambiguity to autonomy in portraying regional characters and social intricacies, which also characterizes a recent ‘New Wave’ within mainstream Hindi cinema (Bollywood). The article engages with two questions. One relates to the spatial disjunction initiated by the regionalist film to consider how these films constitute a politics of spatial difference. The other looks at the expressions of regional particularity to examine the constitutive function of affectivity: in which formal moves do narratives demonstrate the coupling of space and subjectivity? The article posits a relational framework to argue that regionalist films constitute affective connections that symptomize a simultaneous avowal and disavowal of globalization. This inquiry begins by contextualizing relational tendencies with reference to notions of the vernacular as a cultural space, and key terms of affect theory. The second part reads in Omkara and Ishqiya a border-position of sidekick figures to explain that guilt, rage, derangement, and desires embody the features of an intense frontier terrain. In the third part, the pivotal role of aspiration is examined in Masaan to analyse the triggering of shock, humiliation, and a caste habitus, while manifesting spatial transitions that are evoked in the motif of bodies-in-transit. In conclusion, the article ascertains the transgressive potentialities of the vernacular that are transversal and extend through the mainstream form as a network of affects.