Nawraj at 20:51, 30 April 2026

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{{Short description|Indian academic and cinema scholar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Ira Bhaskar
| image = Ira Bhaskar addressing the open forum at the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2012), in Panaji, Goa.jpg
| caption = At the [[43rd International Film Festival of India]]
| occupation = Professor, cinema studies scholar
| spouse = [[C. Uday Bhaskar]]
| children = [[Swara Bhasker]]
| education = {{Plainlist|
* [[Delhi University]]
* [[Tisch School of the Arts]]
}}
| employer = [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]]
}}

'''Ira Bhaskar''' is an Indian academic and [[Cinema Studies|cinema studies]] scholar, known for her work on the cultural and historical influences in [[Cinema of India|Indian cinema]]. She has served as a Professor of Cinema Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]] (JNU), New Delhi, and a former dean of the school. Bhaskar has authored and edited influential works, including ''Islamicate Cultures of Bombay Cinema'' (2009), and has served on the board of the Nehru Trust for Indian Collections at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] (NTICVA).

She also served as a member of the [[Central Board of Film Certification]] (CBFC).

== Early life and education ==
Ira Bhaskar completed her [[Bachelor of Arts]], [[Master of Arts]], and [[MPhil]] in [[English literature|English Literature]] at [[Delhi University]]. She later earned a PhD in Cinema Studies from the [[Tisch School of the Arts]], [[New York University]], in 2005, with a focus on narrative poetics and Indian cinema. Before joining [[Jawaharlal Nehru University|JNU]], she taught at [[Gargi College]], Delhi University.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Professor Ira Bhaskar joins the board of the NTICVA |url=http://www.nehrutrustvam.org/ira-bhaskar-joins-board-nticva |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=www.nehrutrustvam.org |language=en |archive-date=2025-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250428183309/http://www.nehrutrustvam.org/ira-bhaskar-joins-board-nticva |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Academic career ==
Bhaskar served as a Professor of Cinema Studies at JNU’s School of Arts and Aesthetics, also as dean.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-03 |title=Farewell, Ira Bhaskar: Teacher par excellence |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/farewell-ira-bhaskar-teacher-par-excellence-8536043/ |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=The Indian Express |language=en |archive-date=2023-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601153129/https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/farewell-ira-bhaskar-teacher-par-excellence-8536043/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Her research explores [[melodrama]], [[nationalism]], and Islamicate cultural influences in [[Cinema of India|Indian cinema]], with a particular focus on [[Bombay cinema]]. She has published 26 research papers and is recognised for her interdisciplinary approach to [[film studies]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ira Bhaskar |url=https://www.intellectbooks.com/ira-bhaskar |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=Intellect Books |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Prof Ira Bhaskar and Prof Ranjani Mazumdar {{!}} Welcome to Jawaharlal Nehru University |url=https://www.jnu.ac.in/saamacinemastudies |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=www.jnu.ac.in |archive-date=2025-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250218221924/https://www.jnu.ac.in/saamacinemastudies |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ira Bhaskar Voices |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/author/ira-bhaskar/ |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=Times of India Voices |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ira Bhaskar |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/B/I/au123638341.html |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=University of Chicago Press |language=en |archive-date=2024-07-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727141648/https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/B/I/au123638341.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-22 |title=Review: Bombay Cinema's Islamicate Histories edited by Ira Bhaskar and Richard Allen |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/reviewbombay-cinema-s-islamicate-historiesedited-by-ira-bhaskar-and-richard-allen-101658500886049.html |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>

She has held visiting faculty positions at various institutions, including [[Columbia University]], the [[University of Pavia]], [[York University]], and the [[Film and Television Institute of India]] (FTII), [[Pune]]. Bhaskar has also been a scholar-in-residence at York University and received research fellowships from the [[Nehru Memorial Museum and Library]] and the [[British Academy]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ira Bhaskar Entertainment Photo Ira Bhaskar, professor ... |url=https://timescontent.timesofindia.com/photo/entertainment/Ira-Bhaskar/551283 |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=Times Of India |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Das |first=Tina |date=2024-10-29 |title=Padmaavat to The Kerala Story, how new-age Bollywood films spread Hindu nationalism |url=https://theprint.in/feature/around-town/padmaavat-the-kerala-story-new-age-bollywood-films-spread-hindu-nationalism/2331283/ |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241029051810/https://theprint.in/feature/around-town/padmaavat-the-kerala-story-new-age-bollywood-films-spread-hindu-nationalism/2331283/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ira Bhaskar on The Quint |url=https://www.thequint.com/author/1636581/ira-bhaskar |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=TheQuint |language=en |archive-date=2024-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240625020754/https://www.thequint.com/author/1636581/ira-bhaskar |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2022, she was appointed to the board of the Nehru Trust for Indian Collections at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]].<ref name=":0" />

== Central Board of Film Certification ==
Bhaskar served as one of the ten member of the [[Central Board of Film Certification]] (CBFC), India’s regulatory body for film certification, where she contributed to the review and certification of films for public exhibition. During her tenure, she engaged with issues of censorship, artistic expression, and cultural representation in Indian films, aligning with her broader scholarly focus on gender and nationalism in cinema. She resigned from the CBFC in January 2015, citing organisational dysfunction, including a lack of board meetings since January 2014 and alleged interference and corruption within the board, following the resignation of CBFC chief [[Leela Samson]] amid controversy over the clearance of the film ''[[MSG: The Messenger]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=IndiaToday.in |date=2015-01-16 |title=After CBFC chief Leela Samson, Censor Board member Ira Bhaskar decides to quit |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/censor-board-ira-bhaskar-quits-cbfc-leela-samson-msg-film-messenger-of-god-236043-2015-01-16 |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |date=2015-01-20 |title=We are not Congress stooges: Censor Board's Ira Bhaskar |url=https://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/bollywood/ira-bhaskar-censor-board-member-20127.html |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=India TV News |language=en |archive-date=2015-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807211423/http://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/bollywood/ira-bhaskar-censor-board-member-20127.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Publications ==
Bhaskar’s scholarship focuses on the historical and cultural dimensions of Indian cinema. Her notable works include:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ramnath |first=Nandini |date=2021-09-20 |title=Muslim stereotyping in Hindi films: 'We cannot allow ourselves to forget what constitutes us' |url=https://scroll.in/reel/1005662/muslim-stereotyping-in-hindi-films-we-cannot-allow-ourselves-to-forget-what-constitutes-us |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=Scroll.in |language=en |archive-date=2025-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250524004601/https://scroll.in/reel/1005662/muslim-stereotyping-in-hindi-films-we-cannot-allow-ourselves-to-forget-what-constitutes-us |url-status=live }}</ref>

* ''Islamicate Cultures of Bombay Cinema'' (2009, Tulika Books), co-authored with [[Richard Allen (film scholar)|Richard Allen]], which examines the influence of Islamic cultural forms on [[Bollywood cinema]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhaskar |first=Ira |title=Islamicate cultures of Bombay cinema |last2=Allen |first2=Richard |date=2009 |publisher=Tulika Books |isbn=978-81-89487-53-9 |location=New Delhi, India}}</ref>
* ''Bombay Cinema’s Islamicate Histories'' (2009, Intellect Books), co-edited with Allen, exploring the historical interplay of Muslim and Hindu cultures in Indian films.<ref>{{Citation |last=Allen |first=Richard |title=Introduction: Bombay Cinema's Islamicate Histories |date=2022-04-07 |work=Bombay Cinema's Islamicate Histories |pages=1–34 |url=https://doi.org/10.1386/9781789383973_0 |access-date=2025-08-02 |publisher=Intellect Books |isbn=978-1-78938-397-3 |last2=Bhaskar |first2=Ira}}</ref>
* ''Facets of India's security: essays for C. Uday Bhaskar'' (2021, Routledge).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Facets of India's security: essays for C. Uday Bhaskar |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-1-032-25357-2 |editor-last=Uday Bhaskar |editor-first=C. |edition=First South Asia |location=Abingdon, Oxon |editor-last2=Kumaraswamy |editor-first2=P. R.}}</ref>
* Contributor to ''Gender Meets Genre in Postwar Cinemas'' (2012, [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign|University of Illinois]] Press).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.5406/illinois/9780252036613.001.0001 |title=Gender Meets Genre in Postwar Cinemas |date=2012-01-15 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-03661-3 |editor-last=Gledhill |editor-first=Christine}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Bhaskar is married to [[C. Uday Bhaskar]], a retired [[Indian Navy]] officer and strategic analyst. Their daughter, [[Swara Bhasker]], is a Bollywood actress and activist and their son Ishan Bhaskar is a film director.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-09 |title=Commodore C Uday Bhaskar, Director of the Society for Policy Studies (SPS) - TBCY |url=https://tbcy.in/brand/commodore-c-uday-bhaskar-director-of-the-society-for-policy-studies-sps/ |access-date=2025-08-02 |language=en-GB |archive-date=2025-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250328145058/https://tbcy.in/brand/commodore-c-uday-bhaskar-director-of-the-society-for-policy-studies-sps/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Swara's cool daddy fields questions from millennials |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/swaras-cool-daddy-fields-questions-from-millennials-741226.html |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Swara Bhaskar Birthday: पिता पूर्व सैनिक तो मां जेएनयू में हैं प्रोफेसर, कुछ ऐसा है स्वरा भास्कर का परिवार |url=https://www.amarujala.com/photo-gallery/entertainment/bollywood/swara-bhaskar-birthday-who-is-swara-bhaskar-father-c-uday-bhaskar-and-mother-ira-bhaskar-know-swara-bhaskar-family-details-here |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=Amar Ujala |language=hi |archive-date=2022-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605222257/https://www.amarujala.com/photo-gallery/entertainment/bollywood/swara-bhaskar-birthday-who-is-swara-bhaskar-father-c-uday-bhaskar-and-mother-ira-bhaskar-know-swara-bhaskar-family-details-here |url-status=live }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhaskar, Ira}}
[[Category:Indian women academics]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University]]
[[Category:New York University Tisch School of the Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Ira Bhaskar - Revision history

Nawraj at 20:51, 30 April 2026