Studying law through films, novels, comics

Law schools are using various art forms - films, comics, theatre, puppetry

- Pritha Roy Choudhury

Every year at least one course connected with film and law is offered at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru.

"We have had electives on film and law, courses on narratives heavily drawing on films, and even courses on theatre and law. This has been a consistent feature for the last four years," said Saurabh Bhattacharjee, associate professor of law and dean - academics at NLSIU.

He explained how cinema has become a key teaching tool: "We have used cinema as a matrix for analysis and comparison, incorporating both Indian and world cinema to explore how art and filmography can help understand legal processes." Increasingly, films, art, and books are being embraced as teaching aids in top law schools. The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS or NUJS) Kolkata has an entire series on Harry Potter, launched in 2018. Shouvik Guha, professor and founder of the Centre for Law, Literature, and Popular Culture at NUJS uses the fictional wizard and his world to teach legal concepts, encouraging his students to imagine how legal systems might work in "alternate universes", in this instance, "Potterverse".

Perhaps not at the same scale but forms of art - music, theatre and puppetry are often discussed as ways of explaining laws and legal systems. This forms a component, albeit a small one, in Nidhi Suman's Bachelor of Social Work LLB programme at Gujarat National Law University. Students are taught to "curate" music and lyrics and to use them to convey legal concepts and rights to the public. She hopes to pursue a career in public policy.

Enter 'Potterverse'