Statistical Style Analysis of Hindi Biopics: Exploring the Genre Conventions in Recent Years

Abstract

Biography has always been practiced in the history of cinema. Ian Christie, in his article A life on film, mentions that “the biographical film is essentially as old as cinema itself, both within and beyond the Anglo-American context” (as quoted by Minier and Pennacchia Citation2016, 288). But, film studies has never actually considered the biopic as a genre that has its own conventions and stages of development. Despite the historical evidence, many film critics still hesitate to acknowledge the biographical film as a distinct genre. Steve Neale (Citation2000) also points out that the biopic usually lacks critical—rather than industrial esteem and it has rarely been a focus of serious analysis. Robert A. Rosenstone (Citation2007) gives voice to a very similar view, and comments on the high-brow prejudice against the biopic as an allegedly low-quality popular product: “Nobody ever has everything good to say about the biographical- a form usually dismissed with a kind of sneer as the ‘biopic’