Changing Moral Economies of Labour: A Qualitative- Dominant Comparative Textual Analysis of Professional Ethics and Everyday Work in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Cinema and Contemporary Hindi Films

Abstract

This article is an analysis of how Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films develop a framework
of ethics in the context of everyday work, professional identity, and morality and
compare it with current Hindi cinema. The study, based on a qualitative-dominant
comparative textual analysis of five films from each period, namely Mukherjee’s Anand
(1971), Abhimaan (1973), Bawarchi (1972), Gol Maal (1979), and Namak Haraam (1973);
and contemporary films Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year (2009), 3 Idiots (2009),
Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), Gully Boy (2019), and Thappad (202 Theoretically inspired by
E.P. Thompson’s moral economy, middle-class realism and cultural studies of work,
the paper contextualises Mukherjee’s cinema as a pedagogy of morality that focused
on notions of collective duty and integrity in professional life. In contrast, modernday
films represent neoliberal individualism with work being linked to individual
ambition and market success, often at the expense of communal ethics. Findings
show reduction in scenes dedicated to the moral dilemmas at work (from 28% in
Mukherjee to 15% in contemporary films) and a change in the types of professions
in the workforce from service-oriented to entrepreneurial. This transition brings
into focus the shift on the Hindi cinema, from the critique of systemic inequalities
to the endorsement of performative productivity under the influence of economic
liberalization. The article adds to the study of South Asian film by highlighting the
demise of moral economies in labor representations, which calls for reconsidering
the role of cinema in shaping professional identities in globalization.