The Eloquent Language: Hindustani in 1940s Indian Cinema

The Hindi-Urdu debate that raged in pre-independence India was to find a new medium for articulation in the arrival of the talkies-or sound in cinema-in the 1930s. Yet the inclusive register of language most commonly employed in films-both historically and currently-suggests that cinema largely side-stepped the vitriol and bright-line divisions that characterized the literary and publishing worlds. This article investigates some of the linguistic strategies employed by scriptwriters, lyricists, and producers in Hindi-Urdu-Hindustani cinema of the 1940s. It examines scripts, lyrics, and poetry to explore the (de-) linking of linguistic and religious or class identities; the relationship between poetry and filmic lyrics in the person of the poet-lyricist and in the texture of their presentation; and the potential and limits of this oral/aural medium in the context of its written paratexts. Ultimately, it suggests that cinema afforded an inclusivity with respect to language, allowing for a "crystallization" of filmi Hindustani, though this was far from a foreordained process.