Built on nine essays exploring cultural production in India, this book questions which voices, perspectives, and forms of art constitute a national identity.

Who gets to complain about the loss of the idea of India? Whose lament for idyllic India gets recorded?

India at the Limits explores what India looks and feels like via the art, film, and music that are widely amplified in its public sphere. From a dancing body in Manipur to ghost malls doubling up as pleasure zones for poor youth to the spread of Indian cinematic sensibilities in Afghan films, this volume examines the limits, boundaries, and liminal spaces that impact perceptions of what India is and can be both inside and outside its geographic border. Ultimately, readers are able to view India outside of its state-driven formations, offering instead an ecosystem of signs and signposts to ground cultural understanding.