In this presentation, Dr. Murty suggests that development is the narrative or concept-image of the contemporary conjuncture in India. As a concept-image, it sutures together the spectacle of emergence and national renewal with the figure of the commoner. Development is, in fact, the complex unity that is formed by the articulation of diverse narrative strands – including muscular Hindutva, Bollywood’s version of nationalism, and consumerist exhilaration – and is consequently constituted as an apolitical concept. This is because development is a concept-image constituted by the affective register of time – “new time” and the time of event in particular – and by the enchantment of capturing the real. The focus here is on the narrative processes within popular culture – political and consumer advertising and popular film - that enable this complex constitution of the concept.