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Srinivas SV

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • Post-colonial literatures in English
  • Humanities methods
  • Indian Cinema
  • Film and Media Industries
  • Audiences

Biography

I completed my PhD from the Department of English, University of Hyderabad. Before joining Azim Premji University, I worked in Arunachal University (now Rajiv Central University) and Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru. I was the ICCR Chair Professor of Indian Society and Culture, Georgetown University, Washington DC (2012−2013), Chair Professor, Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad (2014) and visiting professor, Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc (2013−15).

I teach courses in literature and media. My research focuses on the intersections between moving images, entertainment industries, and mass politics in India. My books Megastar (Oxford University Press, 2009) and Politics as Performance (Permanent Black, 2013) trace the simultaneous emergence of the film industries, star-politicians, and fandoms in South India cinemas. In the more recent past, my research has increasingly focussed on new media forms and platforms, and associated spectatorial practices. 

I am an occasional translator (Telugu to English), and author of commentaries on popular culture. My non-academic writings were published in The Caravan, Firstpost, Frontline, The Hindu Business Line, and The Indian Express.

Courses

Publications:

Books

  • Srinivas, S. V. (2009). Megastar: Chiranjeevi and Telugu Cinema after NT Rama Rao. Oxford University Press.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2018). Politics as performance: A social history of the Telugu cinema. Permanent Black.

Edited Books

  • Athique, A., Parthasarathi, V., & Srinivas, S. V. (Eds.). (2017). The Indian Media Economy (2‑volume set): Vol. I: Industrial Dynamics and Cultural Adaptation Vol. II: Market Dynamics and Social Transactions. Oxford University Press.

Special Issue of Journal

Guest editor, special issue on Regional Cinemas of India, BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 6.2, July 2015 (Sage).

Translation

Caste and Class, English translation of Bojja Tharakam, Kulam Vargam [Telugu]. With Abhishek Matta and Shivanand Boddipati. Hyderabad: The Shared Mirror, 2020. 

Journal Articles

  • Srinivas, S. V. (2019). After English: What do we Teach when we Teach Literary and Cultural Studies?. Artha Journal of Social Sciences, 18(3), 1 – 24.
  • Srinivas, S. V., Shyam, V. M., Nanduri, R., Singhal, V., & Dath, V. (2018). From Single Screen to YouTube: Tracking the Regional Blockbuster. BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 9(2), 233 – 250.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2016, May). Rajinikanth and the ​‘regional blockbuster’. In Chicago Tamil Forum. http://chicagotamilforum.uchicago.edu/workshops/2016/ewExternalFiles/Srinivas%2C%20SV_Rajinikanth%20and%20the%20Blockbuster%20%28CTF%2C%202016%29.pdf
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2015). Maoism to mass culture: Notes on Telangana’s cultural turn. BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 6(2), 187 – 205.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2013). Rajnikant in Japan: Indian ​“superstardom” and low value markets. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 14(4), 615 – 634.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2011). Three-Town Revolution: Implications of Cinema’s Politics for the Study of Urban Spaces. Economic and Political Weekly, 80 – 88.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2010). Making of a peasant industry: Telugu cinema in the 1930s – 1950s. BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, 1(2), 169 – 188.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2008). Missing in the original: Twin dragons remade in India. Journal of the Moving Image, 7.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2008). Cardboard monuments: City, language and ​‘nation’ in contemporary Telugu cinema. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 29(1), 87 – 100.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2006). Persistence of the feudal: Star and film form in post 1970s Telugu cinema. Journal of the moving image, 5, 50 – 77.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2006). Stars and mobilization in South India: What have films got to do with it?. Post Script-Essays in Film and the Humanities, 25(3), 30 – 47. 
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2003). Hong Kong action film in the Indian B circuit. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 4(1), 40 – 62.
  • Srinivas, S. V. (2000). Is there a public in the cinema hall?. Framework, 42.

Book chapters

  • Srinivas, S. V. (2017). Politics in the Age of YouTube: Degraded Images and Small-Screen Revolutions. In Asian Video Cultures (pp. 217 – 239). Duke University Press.
  • Srinivas, S.V. (2017) ​“Doing Humanities with Science Students: Reflections on ​‘Ways of Seeing’ at IISc.” Essay in Anup Dhar, Tejaswini Niranjana and K. Sridhar (eds.), Breaking the Silo: Integrated Science Education in India. Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 236 – 250.
  • Srinivas, S.V. (2016). The Nation Under One Roof. Essay in Haubitz+Zoche (eds.), Hybrid Modernism: Movie Theatres in South India. Frankfurt: Spector Books.
  • Srinivas, S.V. (2016). ​“Chinaman, Not Hindustani: Stereotypes and Solidarity in a Hong Kong Film on India.” Essay in Joseph Tse-Hei Lee and Satish Kolluri (eds.), Hong Kong and Bollywood: Globalization of Asian Cinemas. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2016, 85 – 103.
  • Srinivas. S.V. (2013). ​“Whistling Fans: Reflections on the Sociology, Politics and Performativity of an Excessively Active Audience.” In Ravi Sundaram (ed.) No Limits: Media Studies from India. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp. 224 – 255. 
  • Srinivas, S.V. (2013). Representing Asia: Indian Cinema from Bruce Lee to Chandni Chowk to China. Proceedings of the international conference on Orient on Orient. Published by the Slavic Research Centre, Hokkaido University, Sapporo. http://src‑h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/rp/publications/no13/13_1-3_Srinivas.pdf