Authors : Rohini Mazumdar; Shabina Khan

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 7 - July

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/zh9m5mb3

Scribd : https://tinyurl.com/mryxe955

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26jul922

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Abstract : This paper will analyze the paradigm change in modern Bengali literature and screenwriting due to the advent of fragmented time and mythological realism that occurred since the start of the twenty-first century. For decades, postIndependence Bengali narratives were anchored in social realism and historical linearities influenced by the Bengal Renaissance and other cultural movements. However, economic liberalization, rapid urbanization, and digital proliferation have thoroughly fractured the traditional, unified experience of reality. Consequently, contemporary creators are dismantling chronological structures and re-interpreting ancient epics to articulate urban alienation, identity crises, and systemic institutional decay. Moving beyond traditional thematic analysis, this study adopts a qualitative, text-centered, and comparative approach situated within postcolonial narratology and transmedia cultural studies. It examines a curated selection of avant-garde literary fiction and independent screenplays produced between 2005 and 2025. The findings reveal that temporal fragmentation functions as a deliberate formal representation of a fractured modern psyche, while mythological realism operates as an indigenous framework activating collective cultural memory rather than merely imitating Western magical realism. Furthermore, media convergence has driven a structural cross-pollination where novelists adopt visual cutting styles, and screenwriters utilize deep literary interiority within multi-episodic digital platforms. Ultimately, this study formulates a distinct regional theoretical framework drawing from classical Indian concepts of cyclical time (Kala) and epic history (Itihasa), providing a critical, decolonized critical vocabulary that challenges Eurocentric postmodern paradigms within global South Asian cultural scholarship.

Keywords : Fragmented Temporalities, Mythological Realism, Bengali Screenwriting, Postcolonial Narratology, Transmedia CrossPollination, Bengali Fiction, Bengali Scriptwriting.

References :

1. Mukherjee M. Realism and Reality: The Novel and Society in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press; 1985.
2. Das SK. A History of Indian Literature: 1800–1910, Western Impact: Indian Response. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi; 1991.
3. Radhakrishnan S. Indian Philosophy: Volume 1. London: George Allen & Unwin; 1923.
4. Sen S. History of Bengali Literature. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi; 1960.
5. Bhattacharya S. Narrative Variations in Contemporary Bengali Fiction. Bengali Literary Review. 2012;34(2):45-58. doi:10.1007/blr.2012.04.11
6. Biswas M. Eclipse of the Self: Temporal Shifts in Contemporary Regional Cinema. Journal of South Asian Film Studies. 2015;8(3):201-215.
7. Genette G. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. Lewin JE, translator. Ithaca: Cornell University Press; 1980.
8. Mukherjee M. The Twice-Born Fiction: Themes and Techniques of the Indian Novel in English. New Delhi: Heinemann; 1971.
9. Das SK. A History of Indian Literature: 1910–1956, Triumph and Tragedy. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi; 1995.
10. Spivak GC. A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1999.
11. Bhattacharya S. Subimal Misra and the Aesthetics of the Anti-Narrative. Kolkata: Granthan; 2008.
12. Chattopadhyay B. Nabarun Bhattacharya and the Postcolonial Grotesque. Science Fiction Studies. 2019;46(2):289-305. doi:10.5621/sciefictstud.46.2.0289
13. Devi M. The Book of the Hunter. Bandyopadhyay S, translator. Calcutta: Seagull Books; 2002.
14. Biswas M. Ray and Beyond: Realism and its Discontents in Bengali Cinema. In: Vasudevan R, editor. Making Meaning in Indian Cinema. New Delhi: Oxford University Press; 2000. p. 112-134.
15. Ghosh R. First Person: Narrative Intimacy in Screenplays. Film and Fiction Journal. 2011;14(1):89-102.
16. Banaji S. Reading Bollywood: The Young Audience and Hindi Films. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; 2006.