Making Love in the Indian Ocean

Abstract

This chapter investigates how people on the Zanzibaricoast in the 1990s remembered the impact of the Bollywood blockbuster hit Awara on their visions of love and romance in late 1950s and 1960s. Awara is perhaps “the most successful film in the history of cinema at large,” having been seen in more countries, and by more people, more times, than any other film in history. Bollywood films developed themes and issues in ways that were far more relevant to East African life than those dreamed up by Hollywood. The back cover of Adam Shafi's Kiswahili novel, Vuta n'Kuvute, describes the central themes driving the protagonists as “love and revolution.” Romantic love and political revolution are the central themes explored in this novel.

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