The first comprehensive inquiry into the origin and growth of regional language cinema in India, this volume traces the development of Kannada cinema from the 1940s to the new millennium. Focusing on the role regional language cinema plays in addressing regional identity, the book also articulates the conflict between the Region and the Nation especially at crisis moments.

It explores how its origin in a princely state under indirect British rule had an impact on the shaping of Kannada cinema, and inquiries into the effect of the linguistic reorganization of the states in the 1950s upon regional identity. Exploring the influence of national developments such as the ascendancy of Indira Gandhi in the 1960s on regional identity, the book also includes first-time assessments of the Kannada star Rajkumar as a regional icon and the changing meaning of Bangalore city to the Kannada-speaking public.