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Last edited January 29, 2026

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Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Born
1957-3-12 (age 69)
Bombay, India


Occupation
Film scholar, cultural theorist
Years active
1982–present



Ashish Vithal Rajadhyaksha (born 12 March 1957) is an Indian film scholar, art curator and cultural theorist. He was a Senior Fellow at the Bangalore-based Centre for the Study of Culture and Society.[1]

Early life

Ashish Vithal Rajadhyaksha[2] was born on 12 March 1957 in Bombay (later renamed Mumbai), India.[1] His father was a soldier in the Indian army. Rajadhyaksha's serious interest in cinema developed in the late 1970s.[3] In 1978, he graduated from the University of Bombay with a Bachelor of Science degree.[1]

Career

Rajadhyaksha developed a keenness for Ritwik Ghatak's films after attending a course organised by the Film and Television Institute and the National Film Archive of India in the early 1980s. The first book that he authored was Ritwik Ghatak: A Return to the Epic, published in 1982.[3] Starting in 1983, he wrote numerous articles for publications such as the New Delhi–based Journal of Arts & Ideas and Calcutta (now Kolkata)–based Journal of the Moving Image.[1] He authored, with Paul Willemen, Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema in 1994.[4][5] After a long hiatus, Rajadhyaksha's next book, a solo, was Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid: From Bollywood to the Emergency in 2009,[1][6] followed by The Last Cultural Mile: An Inquiry into Technology and Governance in India in 2011,[3] and Indian Cinema: A Very Short Introduction in 2016.[7]

Personal life

Rajadhyaksha was married to Pushpamala N., a Bangalore-based artist.[8] The couple later divorced.[9]

Books written

  • Ritwik Ghatak: A Return to the Epic{{#if:Rajadhyaksha|, Rajadhyaksha}. Screen Unit(1982)
  • Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(1998). ISBN 0-19-563579-5
  • Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid: From Bollywood to the Emergency{{#if:Rajadhyaksha|, Rajadhyaksha}. Indiana University Press(2009). ISBN 978-0-253-22048-6
  • The Last Cultural Mile: An Inquiry into Technology and Governance in India{{#if:Rajadhyaksha|, Rajadhyaksha}. Centre for Internet and Society(2011)
  • Indian Cinema: A Very Short Introduction{{#if:Rajadhyaksha|, Rajadhyaksha}. Oxford University Press(2016). ISBN 978-0-19-872309-7

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Ashish Rajadhyaksha. Centre for the Study of Culture and Society. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  2. 评论档案 艺术档案. Artda.cn(20 October 2014). Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ghatak continues to fascinate me even today, Akhtar, Aasim. The News International(17 June 2018). Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  4. What experts say about Bengaluru's possibility as a "creative city". Citizen Matters(28 September 2011). Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  5. Celluloid history. The Hindu(6 June 2015). Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  6. Encyclopaedic study of Indian cinema. The Hindu(14 October 2009). Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  7. Indian Cinema: A Very Short Introduction. Shepherd Express(23 November 2016). Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  8. Pushpamala speaks art in many languages. The Hindu(16 March 2018). Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  9. Elegy for a lost friend: Gauri Lankesh (1962–2017), N, Pushpamala. Indian Cultural Forum(5 September 2019). Retrieved 30 June 2021.