Book Excerpt: Bollypolitics

Author Bio :

Ajay Gehlawat is Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Theatre and Film at Sonoma State University, USA. He is the author of Reframing Bollywood (2010) and Twenty-First Century Bollywood (2015), as well as editor of TheSlumdog Phenomenon (2013) and co-editor of The Evolution of Song and Dance in Hindi Cinema (2019).

Bloomsbury India link: https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/bollypolitics-9781350401891/

Or Amazon link: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Bollypolitics%25bloomsbury&ref=nb_sb_noss

BLURB

This book provides an in-depth exploration of the evolving landscape of Bollywood cinema in response to recent socio-political changes in India, including a surge in sectarian violence and the ascent of Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. Through a comprehensive analysis of prominent filmmakers and actors like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Kangana Ranaut, Akshay Kumar, and Anupam Kher, Ajay Gehlawat investigates the extent to which their recent works align with key tenets of the Hindutva movement. He scrutinizes the growing influence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on film production, manifesting in collaborations covering diverse themes, from Modi’s Clean India initiative to the nation’s space exploration endeavors and grand historical epics such as Padmaavat (2018) and Manikarnika (2019) that seek to reshape Indian history in line with Hindutva ideology. Gehlawat goes on to dissect smaller budget films like Article 15 (2019) and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020), which tackle pressing social issues like caste-based violence and homophobia exacerbated by the surge in right-wing extremism in India. In doing so, he elucidates the profound and far-reaching impact of Hindutva ideology on Indian cinematic narratives and aesthetics, while also considering the broader implications for Indian society as a whole.

The following paragraphs from the book’s introduction describe the current scenario in India and the intervention this study intends to make in this landscape.

As the air in India’s capital grows increasingly unbreathable, another toxic specter haunts the nation today, the growing specter of Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism, which has overwhelmed India since the election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister (2014). India is not alone in this chauvinistic rightward turn – witness the rise of nationalist strongmen around the world, including in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Turkey, Russia and the Philippines – yet the situation in India has grown particularly dire since Modi’s election (and reelection in 2019). In the ensuing period one witnesses a dramatic rise of intolerance in the subcontinent, embodied by a growing number of hate crimes perpetrated by extremist Hindu groups against Muslims and other minorities. Since Modi assumed office, literally hundreds of cases of such vigilante violence have occurred (Baksi and Nagarajan 2017), the overwhelming majority of which have been directed against Muslims (Mohan 2018: 35). Compounding this spate of violence has been the resounding silence that more often than not accompanies it, particularly from Modi, who is an otherwise avid Tweeter. As media scholar Shakuntala Banaji (2018) has observed:

Kidnapping, rape, gang-rape, molestation, lynching, extra-judicial killings of and pogroms against Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Kashmiris and populations of contested regions of the North East occur regularly (Taltumbde 2010; Mander 2015; Puniyani 2017). State and central governments often collude. So, why is it that, even when reported extensively, these crimes have drawn little opprobrium from the vast majority of India’s literate population?” (334)

This is a key question and one that largely informs this study. The dramatic rise in recent years of sectarian violence and intolerance in India is matched, or compounded, by the lack of condemnation frequently greeting it, particularly from those in power, and neither shows any sign of abating. Indeed, it could be argued that one (form of violence) directly feeds into, or stems from, the other. Simultaneously, collaborations between Bollywood, the colloquial term for the popular Hindi cinema industry, and Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party, hereafter BJP), have substantially increased in the past several years, with numerous Bollywood stars frequently utilizing their celebrity status to endorse Modi’s agenda. Alternatively, those who have been identified as critics of the ruling party within Bollywood, including two of the three Khans who have dominated the industry for several decades, have faced repeated attacks on social media (for being anti-national) as well as calls to boycott their films. As Arkotong Longkumer (2021) notes, “The rise of Hindu nationalism and the studies that have accompanied it have grown exponentially in the last few decades (Basu et al. 1993; Benei 2008; Doniger and Nussbaum 2015; Froerer 2007; Ghassem-Fachandi 2012; Gopal 1991; Hansen 1999; Hasan 1994; Jaffrelot 1998; Ludden 1996; McKean 1996b; Rajagopal 2001; Sarkar and Butalia 1995; van der Veer 1994)” (6). Yet only one of the fourteen studies he cites – Rajagopal’s – discusses Hindu nationalism in relation to media and that, too, is primarily focused on television and now over twenty years old. What arguably remains missing is a sustained examination of the effect of the rise of Hindu nationalism, or Hindutva, on Bollywood, and of Bollywood’s negotiations of such an ideology. While recent studies by social scientists and journalists, including those of Jaffrelot (2021), Chowdhury and Keane (2021) and Komireddi (2019), make passing references to Bollywood, none include any sustained discussion of the film industry and its involvement with Hindutva. In a country in which this film industry plays an outsized role, this is a particularly glaring omission and one which the current study seeks to address.