The Biggest Star of All

The Elephant in Hindi Cinema

Authors

  • Rachel Dwyer SOAS, University of London Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v7i1-3.195

Keywords:

elephant, Ganesha, Hindi cinema, iconography, myth, religion and nature

Abstract

In 2010, the Indian elephant (elephas maximus indica) was declared a National Heritage Animal, in view of its contribution to Indian culture and history. It is not surprising that the elephant features in Hindi film, but it is striking that it features in a range of genres, including the mythological, the historical, the social film and features in several children’s films, a rare genre in Indian cinema. In these films the elephant is shown to have a complex status, being divine, especially in association with the elephant-headed god Ganesha, as a moral and noble animal with human qualities, as well as a working animal participating in warfare and in circuses. The elephant’s qualities are often contrasted with those of humans, with the elephant always esteemed for its moral rectitude, its devotion, its dedication and its sense of joy. The elephant has names and characters but it does not appear as an animal outside the realms of humans and anthropomorphic gods (with even Ganesha having a humanlike body). However, although the Hindi film cannot feature the elephant’s current status as an endangered species whose only predator is man, it does create an interest and empathy for this symbolically significant animal. This article explores these representations in films, including animated films (My friend Ganesha, 2007), mythological films about Ganesha (Shri Ganesh Mahima, 1950); children’s films (Haathi mere saathi, 1971; Safed haathi, 1978); historical films (Mughal-e Azam, 1960; Jodhaa Akbar, 2008), and as a forestry worker (Munimji,1955; Pakeezah, 1971), including in one of the earliest feature films shot in India, which produced India’s first international star, Sabu: Elephant boy, 1937.

Author Biography

  • Rachel Dwyer, SOAS, University of London

    Rachel Dwyer is Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She took her B.A. in Sanskrit at SOAS, followed
 by an M.Phil. in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology at the
 University of Oxford. Her Ph.D. research was on the Gujarati lyrics of
 Dayaram (1777-1852). She has published ten books several of which 
are on Indian cinema. Prof Dwyer has recently completed Beyond the boundaries of Bollywood: the many forms of Hindi cinema, co-edited with Jerry Pinto (Oxford University Press, 2011) and is currently
 writing Bollywood’s India: Indian cinema as a guide to modern India 
for Reaktion Books, London. Her next project is on the Indian elephant.

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Published

2013-10-08

Issue

Section

Fourth Tantra: Devotion, Wisdom, Awe

How to Cite

Dwyer, R. (2013). The Biggest Star of All: The Elephant in Hindi Cinema. Religions of South Asia, 7(1-3), 195-210. https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v7i1-3.195