Iranian modernity in Indian imagination; A study on audience reception and perception of Iranian films in Covid-۱۹ pandemic

In the unprecedented global crisis wrought by the COVID-۱۹ pandemic and when the whole world was constrained by physical mobility, for people, watching film was the central act of engagement with the world. Film as a discursive formation embedded in the cultural politics of specific area, content, and meaning of any given film is relative and dependent on the spectator, the situation, and the cultural context. Filmic language prefigures an absence as a presence thus signifies through a dynamic process of substitution where the spectator is captured by an imagined or projected presence (Metz, ۱۹۵۴, p. ۱۵۲). Iranian films are universally acclaimed for their thematic varieties and for dealing with social subjects, it attracts a large audience in India as it reverberates the Iranian realities and modernity to the world. It is reported that the adaption of OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon during lockdown has not only eased the accessibility to foreign content but also multiplied significantly. The hybridity and trans-national nature of these digital spaces offer the audience to consume the foreign contents beyond geographies of language and culture. This paper intends to study the Audience’s reception and perception of Iranian films during the Covid ۱۹ pandemic. I posit that there is a leap in the reception of Iranian film in India that subsequently constructed the Indian perception towards Iranian modernity during the Covid ۱۹ pandemic. By employing both the discourse and reception analysis I interrogate the way the film consumption pattern of the Indian spectators has turned towards Iranian films during the pandemic and how film acts as an agency to produce the perception of Iranian modernity among the Indian Audience. To study the Audience/receivers of Iranian films and their accession to Iranian films in India I would employ the focus group method through which the spectators actively engaged in Online databases and social networking forums will be interviewed. Secondary literature from Movie analysis websites and Social Networking Sites will also be considered for the analysis.

Keywords:

Covid ۱۹ Pandemic , Iranian Films , Iranian modernity