Scripting the self: the crafting and performance of the celebrity persona in the autobiographical writings of Indian actresses (1930–2000)

Abstract

This thesis studies the scripting of celebrity personas in the autobiographical writings of 20th-century Indian actresses by focusing on their identities as professionals. The hypothesis posits that in their autobiographies, 20th-century actresses craft their celebrity personas through self-fashioning, guided by their professional expertise, aimed at impression management1. The work proves this hypothesis through close reading and textual analysis of three key texts chosen as representative case studies of the autobiographical writings by professional actresses of this period (1930–2000): You Ask, I Tell (2013) by Hansa Wadkar (1923–1971), Close-Up (2010) by Zohra Segal (1912–2014), and Climbing the Mango Trees (2006) by Madhur Jaffrey (1933 –).