Rachel Dwyer is Professor Emerita of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS, University of London.
She took her BA in Sanskrit at SOAS, followed by an MPhil in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford. Her PhD research was on the Gujarati lyrics of Dayaram (1777-1852).
Professor Dwyer has published ten books, several of which are on Indian cinema. She has recently completed 'Bollywood's India: Indian cinema as a guide to modern India for Reaktion Books, London and Hachette, India. She is currently researching the Asian elephant in India.
Research interests
Hindi cinema and film culture in South Asia; Hinduism; Gujarati diaspora
Dharampal-Frick, Gita, (eds.), Dwyer, Rachel, (eds.), Kirloskar-Steinbach, Monika, (eds.) and Phalkey, Jahnavi, (eds.) (2015). New Delhi/New York: Oxford University Press/New York University Press.
‘I do fatafat constipation with goras in tip-top gora English’: Hinglish and English accents and speech in Jab Tak Hai Jaan
Dwyer, Rachel and Ashton, Helen (2021). In: Orsini, Francesca, (eds.) and Ravikant, (eds.), Hinglish Live: Language mixing across media. Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan
Rimjhim ke taraane leke aayi barsaat’: Songs of love and longing in the Bombay rains.
Dwyer, Rachel (2018). In: Rajamani, Imke, (eds.), Pernau, Margrit, (eds.) and Butler Schofield, Katherine, (eds.), Monsoon Feelings: A History of Emotions in the Rain. New Delhi: Niyogi Books, pp 291-314
Dwyer, Rachel (2016). In: Beaster-Jones, Jayson, (eds.) and Sarrazin, Natalie, (eds.), Music in contermporary Indian film: memory, voice, identity. Abingdon; New York: Routledge, pp 192-198
Innocent abroad: Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar and the diasporic star
Dwyer, Rachel (2015). In: Dudrah, Rajinder, (eds.), Mader, Elke, (eds.) and Fuchs, Bernhard, (eds.), Shah Rukh Khan and global Bollywood. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp 49-69
A star is born?: Rishi Kapoor and dynastic charisma in Hindi cinema.
Dwyer, Rachel (2015). In: Cobb, Shelley, (eds.) and Ewen, Neil, (eds.), First comes love: Power couples, celebrity kinship, and cultural politics.. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, pp 96-115
I love you when you’re angry: Amitabh Bachchan, the star and emotion in the Hindi film
Dwyer, Rachel (2015). In: Bandhauer, Andrea, (eds.) and Royer, Michelle, (eds.), Stars in World Cinema: Screen Icons and Star Systems Across Cultures. London: IB Tauris, pp 13-23
Happy ever after: Hindi films and the happy ending.
Dwyer, Rachel (2013). In: Ssorin-Chaikov, Nikolai, (ed.), The topography of happiness from the American dream to postsocialism/ Топография счастья от Американской мечты к пост-социализму. Moscow: New Literary Observer [Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie], pp 357-402
Dwyer, Rachel (2013). In: Bates, Karine, (eds.), Boisvert, Mathieu, (eds.), Granger, Serge, (eds.) and Jaffrelot, Christophe, (eds.), L'Inde et ses avatars: Pluralité d'une puissance. Montreal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, pp 275-306
Bombay Gothic: 60 years of Mahal/The mansion, dir. Kamal Amrohi, 1949
Dwyer, Rachel (2011). In: Dwyer, Rachel, (ed.), Beyond the boundaries of Bollywood: the many forms of Hindi cinema. Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp 130-155
The saffron screen?: Hindi movies and Hindu nationalism
Dwyer, Rachel (2006). In: Meyer, Birgit, (eds.) and Moors, Annelies, (eds.), Religion, media and the public sphere. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp 422-460
Representing the Muslim: the 'courtesan film' in Indian popular cinema.
Dwyer, Rachel (2004). In: Parfitt, Tudor, (eds.) and Egorova, Yulia, (eds.), Jews, Muslims and Mass Media Mediating the 'Other'. London: Routledge/Curzon, pp 78-92
Yeh shaadi nahin ho sakti! (This wedding cannot happen!)
Dwyer, Rachel (2004). In: Jones, Gavin W., (eds.) and Ramdas, K, (eds.), (Un)tying the knot: ideal and reality in Asian marriage. Singapore: Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore., pp 59-90
Dwyer, Rachel (2004). In: Jacobsen, Knut A., (eds.) and Kumar, Pratap, (eds.), South Asians in the diaspora: historiesand religious traditions.. Leiden: Brill, pp 180-199
Dwyer, Rachel (2000). In: Dwyer, Rachel, (eds.) and Pinney, Christopher, (eds.), Pleasure and the nation: the history, consumption and politics of public culture India. India: Oxford University Press, pp 247-85
