We invite original and unpublished essays for inclusion in a forthcoming Handbook of Bengali Cinema. This interdisciplinary volume will offer a comprehensive and critical survey of Bengali cinema across periods, geographies, genres, styles, and theoretical frameworks. It will serve as a key reference for students, scholars, and practitioners interested in one of South Asia’s most influential regional cinemas.

Essays should be no longer than 5,000 words, inclusive of notes and works cited, and must follow the MLA citation style (current edition). Contributions may be historical, thematic, theoretical, or practice-based, and are expected to demonstrate critical rigor and originality.

The handbook aims to cover:

•Cinema from West Bengal, India

•Cinema from Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan)

•The Bengali cinematic diaspora and transnational productions

•Art cinema, popular cinema, parallel cinema, and independent filmmaking

The volume will be structured to reflect standard handbook sections, which include but are not limited to:

1.Historical Overviews

2.Movements and Aesthetics

3.Key Figures (Directors, Actors, Writers, Technicians)

4.Themes and Theories

5.Industries, Infrastructure, and Policy

6.Audience, Reception, and Circulation

7.Diaspora and Transnationalism

8.Technology, Archiving, and Future Directions

Suggested Topics and Areas of Inquiry

I. Histories and Foundations

•Early Bengali cinema and silent films (Hiralal Sen, Amar Choudhury)

•The impact of Partition and the creation of Bangladesh on cinematic narratives

•Postcolonial nation-building and Bengali cinema

•Nandan and the politics of state support for culture

•Film societies and cinephile networks in Bengal

II. Auteur Studies and Iconic Figures

•Satyajit Ray: narrative, realism, and formal innovation

•Ritwik Ghatak: trauma, memory, Partition

•Mrinal Sen: radical politics and cinematic experiment

•Tareque Masud and the revival of Bangladeshi independent cinema

•Aparna Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta: gender, identity, aesthetics

•Emerging and mid-career directors: Kaushik Ganguly, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Aditya Vikram Sengupta, etc.

•Diasporic filmmakers: Jhumpa Lahiri’s forays, Sandeep Ray, etc.

• The Bangladesh New Wave cinema

III. Performance and Stardom

•Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen: myth, charisma, and melodrama

•Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jaya Ahsan, Rituparna Sengupta: contemporary fame

•Acting as method: performance traditions and cultural influence

•Gender, queerness, and performativity in Bengali cinema

IV. Movements and Aesthetic Shifts

•Parallel cinema and realism

•Middle cinema and the “Bhadralok” genre

•New Wave/Alternative movements in the 2000s and beyond

•Musical and popular genres in Tollywood

•Dhallywood: mainstream trends in Bangladeshi cinema

V. Thematic and Theoretical Concerns

•Partition, migration, and memory

•Urban/rural divide and the politics of space

•Gender, sexuality, and queer representation

•Caste, class, and marginalisation

•Cinema and literary adaptation: Tagore, Bibhutibhushan, Shirshendu, Humayun Ahmed, etc.

•Bengali cinema and global modernism/postmodernism

•Trauma studies, affect theory, and historical haunting

•Cine-ecologies and environmental aesthetics

•Sound studies and Rabindra Sangeet in film

VI. Industry, Institutions, and Policy

•Production, distribution, and exhibition infrastructures

•Co-productions and transnational circuits (India-Bangladesh collaborations)

•OTT platforms and digital disruption

•Film festivals (Kolkata International Film Festival, Dhaka International Film Festival)

•Censorship and regulation

•Film archives and restoration initiatives

VII. Audience and Reception

•Audience formations and spectatorship in Bengal

•Critical publics and the role of film journalism

•Diasporic audiences and film consumption

•Cinema halls, community viewings, and nostalgia

VIII. Interviews and Practice-Based Contributions

•Conversations with Bengali filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, producers

•Profiles of major studios (e.g., New Theatres, BFDC, Shree Venkatesh Films)

•Reflections from curators, archivists, and festival programmers

•Practitioners’ perspectives on the craft of Bengali filmmaking today

We are also open to suggestions from contributors. Interviews with directors and notable Bengali Cinema scholars are welcomed as well. 

Submission Guidelines

•Abstract (300–400 words) and short bio (100–150 words) to be submitted by: 30 September, 2025

•Accepted contributors will be notified by: 31 October, 2025

•Final papers (max 5,000 words, MLA format) due by: 15 January, 2026

•All submissions and queries should be emailed to: bengalicinemahandbook@gmail.com

This volume seeks to serve as a definitive, forward-looking guide to Bengali cinema, balancing historical coverage with innovative research and inclusive voices. We strongly encourage submissions from early-career researchers, scholars working in Bengali, Bangla, or English, and practitioners with reflective insights.