Il potere linguistico dell' Inglese nella società indiana contemporanea: il caso di Bollywood

The aim of this dissertation is to illustrate the role of English in the modern Indian society. The research starts from the origins of English in India in order to understand the current influence of this language and its role among the various local languages. In this regard it was necessary to describe the complex multilingual setting of India. It was interesting to detect the role of English and its related uses in the daily life of Indians by analysing different Bollywood movies. Indian cinema is becoming a worldwide phenomenon nowadays and in India has a great influence on the population. Therefore, in this dissertation the Bollywood industry is considered as the ¿mirror¿ of the modern Indian society. The movie analysis was conducted on different movie scripts and was focused on the linguistic power of English and the correlation between language and society, as well as the social transformation of India in the last decades. The idea is that language has a power and is capable to influence the society where is used. As a matter of fact, nowadays English has transformed along with the Indian society in a new distinct variety.