Passage-1
Modernity significantly transformed the nature of the performative arts, aesthetics, and their commercial relationships. Art and artistic skills became commodified in this new market, allowing a new ‘common’ audience to enter theatres. The commercialization of theatre and the later arrival of cinema revolutionized the entertainment industry. Importantly, new ‘entertainers’ did not necessarily belong to the old ‘traditional’ strata of performers but instead came from families and classes of social elites. Conventional performers like the Tamasha and Lavani artists in Maharashtra were relegated to the periphery as ‘folk’ or ‘local’ talents.
In the changed economy of entertainment, a new class of film and theatre performers, mainly from the social elite strata, became mainstream popular artists. For example, when Dadasaheb Phalke wanted to cast female actors in Raja Harishchandra, the women refused to participate as the show business was then identified as a profession for the lowly class. Consequently, women from ‘good’ homes had to stay away. The first few female actors, like Durgabai Kamat and her daughter in Mohini Bhasmasur, were ostracized, condemned, and faced backlash from Brahmins. The first female actors of the silent film era were non-Indian white women, such as fearless Nadia, an Australian-born Indian, who were less hesitant to play such roles on screen. In many instances, male actors had to impersonate women. Interestingly, though Dalit performing artists were available, they were not cast for lead roles.
With the rise of cinema as a business with rich commercial dividends and popularity, the profession began to attract business castes to engage and invest in film production. Brahmins and other caste elites engaged with cinema, claiming it was crucial for strengthening nationalist values and was an impressive tool to reinvent Hindu civilizational symbols. By 1947, the Bombay film industry was dominated by powerful production houses operated and managed by social elites, including Muslim elites, to serve the ideological goals of a newly independent nation-state and to reclaim lost and forgotten cultural assets.
Answer the following questions based on the passage above only :
Based on the passage, what role did the evolving entertainment industry play in the nationalist movement in India?