THE EFFECT OF HINDUTVA ON BOLLYWOOD IN THE POST-GLOBALISED

FRAME

ABSRTACT
In Indian society in general, there is a great impact of Film Industry especially Hindi film industry
in terms of Bollywood from the very first day. With the great influence of Indian politics,
economy, social, religion era, this economic as well as cultural empire has been flourished and
nourished and became one of the big business market where people can find their suitable
platform and being able to unhidden their intellectual, cultural as well as technical talent after
introducing themselves into this line of thought.

Here the point which needs to be noted that the ‘popular’ term “Bollywood” came into
existence after 1990s’, the moment, when Globalization affected the Indian Hindi Film Industry
and Industrialized the field.

[The point is the term ‘Bollywood’ is very similar to the term ‘Hollywood’.]

To need to be concentrated on various kinds of Dialects of language and stratification in

Bollywood this gives it an intellectual shape of debate and discourse. It is impossible to
categories this media within some particular frames or subjects. Differentiation of dealing with
the subjects of the society or pointing out kinds of cinematic methods is making a valuable
discourse of it from within I have chosen the field of Hindutva.

Our daily practical concern gives us the awareness of religious impact on the society, specially
about Hindutva or ‘Hindu-ness’, one of the major practicing religious believe of India.

The notion “Hindutva” meaning ‘Hindu-ness’, was coined in the early 20th Century referring to
three meanings of Hindu, viz. Indian, followers of Indian religion in general and followers of
Hinduism (the practical religion). Kept importance on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s definition of
Hindutva, I want to quoted here the definition which is accepted and legalized by Supreme
Court of India (1995), “Ordinally, Hindutva is understood as a way of life or a state of mind is
not to be equated with or understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism...it is following and an
error of laws to proceed on the assumption..That the use of words Hindutva or Hinduism per se
depicts an attitude hostile to all persons practicing any religion other than the Hindu religion..It
may will be that those words are used in a speech to emphasize the way of life of the Indian
people and the Indian culture or ethos, or to criticize the policy of any political party as
discriminatory or intolerance.”
And the implication of Hindutva in Bollywood after post-globalization period is a big deal of
today, and also this is my assignment topic to which I may concern. Moving forward with the
subject I have sorted out three research questions which are trying to be founded-

1. Portrait of Hindutva in Bollywood after Globalization, How it has been pathalogised?

2. With the reference of Hinduism how castes is introduced in Bollywood?
3. Non-challance towards authority of religion over society and how society has been
sketched out in Bollywood?

Before moving forward with the analysis I want to outline a rough sketch on the Globalization
and Hindutva in general- two keywords of the paper.

Historically, Globalization is a new concept. Thousands of years before the root wpord for this
concept- ‘globe’-came into use, our ancestors had already spread across the earth. The
discovery of the “New World” by Colombus in 1492 was significant in that it brought together
peoples who had been separated for over 10,000 years. No less significant has been the
exchange of plants and animals. For example, a Peruvian tuber, the potato, has become a global
staple. But, it can be argued that, it was the emergence of the world’s first multinationals- the
British East India Company [in 1600] and the Dutch East Indian Company [in 1602]- that truly
launched the process that has matured into the current economic integration of the world.
After participating (or being forced to participate) in largely one-way trade via British
colonization (which was initially started by the British East India Company), independent Indian
retreated behind a wall of protectionism and socialist style economic planning. It can be argued
that, in the ‘80sm India avoided hyperinflation and a Latin America style economic crisis largely
due to this type of tight foreign-exchange controls and prudent economic management. Though
ten years short period of time may be, the effect wrought by these changes in India has been
dramatic. A big reason for this has been the rise in information technology-wireless telephones,
satellite television, and the internet were all made available in India during this period in part
due to the new economic policies. Their adaptation has been meteoric. The consequent
exposure of Indians to the information explosion outside its borders and the rise of the middle
class and their shifting tastes have forced Bollywood to reevaluate its methods of conducting
business.

Bollywood has been affected thus both directly and indirectly. The direct causes have been the
rise of alternate source of entertainment such as TV, both satellite and Doordarshan, the state
run mdia, and the internet. On the other hand, the rise of a new middle class, made prosperous
by the new jobs being created in India due to globalization, and the Indian diaspora abroad has
created an audience whose entertainment expectations have changed.
Now we make our concentration on the term “Hindutva”. To this category of names which have
been to mankind a subtle source of life and inspiration belongs to the word Hindutva, the
essential nature and significance of which we have investigate into. The ideas and ideals, the
systems and societies, the thoughts and sentiments which have centered round this name are
so varied and rich, so powerful and so subtle, so elusive and yet so vivid that the term Hindutva
defies all attempts at analysis. Forty centuries, if not more, had been at work to mould it as it is.
Prophets and poets, lawyers and law-givers, heroes and historians, have thought, lived, fought
and died just to have it spelled thus. For indeed, is it not the resultant of countless actions-now
conflicting, now commingling, and now cooperating- of our whole race? Hindutva is not a word
but a history. Not only the spiritual or religious history of our people as at times it is mistaken to
be by being confounded with the other cognate term Hinduism, but a history in full. Hinduism is
only a derivative, a fraction, a part of Hindutva. Unless it is made clear what is meant by the
latter the first remains unintelligible and vague. Failure to distinguish between these two terms
has given rise to much misunderstanding and mutual suspicion between some of those sister
communities that have inherited this inestimable and common treasure of our Hindu
civilization. The fundamental difference between the two terms is, Hindutva is not identical
with what is vaguely indicated by the term Hinduism. By an ‘ism’ it is generally meant a theory
or a code more or less based on spiritual or religious dogma or creed. Hindutva embraces all the
departments of thought and activity of the whole Being of our Hindu race.

Its effect on Bollywood Hindu film industry after globalization is more powerful indeed.
Obviously being a one of the important religious stand point among the country Hindutva
makes a strong position of arguing fundamentally. Globalization makes their voice louder
before the whole world. The internet is a powerful thing in the hands of Hindutvavadi bully. The
very recent fact point out its powerful impression. Due to the casting of Pakistani actor Fawad
Khan, the film of Karan Johar “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” has censored. Reliance Entertainment
released a trailer for Singham Returns, the sequel to Singham (2011), about the (violent)
adventures of a proudly “Maratha’ cop, Bajirao Singham. In the sequel- which also stars the
actor Ajay Devgan-the eponymous hero has a new challenge to deal with, naturally. This is the
issue of “black money”, a matter brought to national attention, incidentally, by the very Hindu
yoga guru Ramdev. Within days, the web was awash with loud outrage against what claimed to
be a motivated campaign by Bollywood to belittle the Hindu faith. In 1995, for instance, Mani
Ratnam had to screem Bombay, a Hindu-Muslim love story in the backdrop of the Mumbai
riots, to the Shiv Sena Bal Thackeray, who was widely believed to have presided over the riots,
and make the cuts Thackeray demanded before submitting it to the censor board. (Thackeray
demanded cuts of a different kind- he insisted that the character inspired by him should
express no regret over the riots.) Now there is even less to deter Hindutvavadis as they have a
go at Bollywood with their enviable strength on social media and their skill with headlines and
hashtags.
Now I am trying to expose the research questions.

How Hindutva has been pathalozised in Bollywood after globalization?

For the sake of my analysis I have chosen the film ‘PK’ (2014). This satirical comedy is based on
challenging the superstition labeled as religious practices in Indian society. India, being home to multiple
religions and a diverse cultural fabric, supports many layers of understanding about faith, religions,
rituals and beliefs, which forms a sensitive issue. The film delves headfirst into the syncretic melee of
different faiths in India and it takes direct aim at ‘godmen’, the guru figures who direct the followers
towards following symbols of religion. Hindu groups have been considering it as a blasphemy against
Hindu gods and gurus, because of which the film has had to plunge into controversies. There have been
protest and attacks. A ‘boycott-PK’ movement as well as a parallel ‘Support-PK’ trend have seen in the
real as well as virtual world. It becomes all the more interesting to see the depiction of religion in this
film, using strong narratives along with visual representations to deal with the issue of faith. Also, the
timing of the film coincided with the prevailing atmosphere of religious intolerance within India. The
series of events regarding religion in the Indian society lend a meaning to a study on this film as
mediated reality of Indian society. The study will conduct a qualitative analysis of the film and present a
reading of this popular media form.

How castisiem is introduced in Bollywood?

One of the essential characteristic rather weapon of Hindutva is Cast system. Regarding this matter I
have chosen the film “Bandit Queen” (1994), Indian biographical film based on the life of Phoolan Devi
as covered in the book India’s Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi- by the Indian auther Mala
Sen. The film was directed by Shekhar Kapoor and starred Seema Biswas as the title character. Both Devi
and the censors are offended by the movie’s many scenes of rape and sexual humiliation, including a
horrifying sequence in which she is raped by most of the upper-caste men of a village and forced to walk
naked through its streets. Even more disturbing is the portrait of a society that led her up to these
moments.

One of the six children from a poor family, she was married at the age of 11, to a man who gave her
parents a cow, and threw in a bicycle. Torn weeping from her mother’s arms, she was used by her
husband as a beast of burden, and taunted by the higher castes of the village where she now lived.
(Caste is sometimes a matter of small privileges; everyone in the village draws water from the same
well, but the higher castes have a pulley that makes it easier.) Practices that are crimes in much of the
world are accepted practices, apparently, in this area. Devi is forced into sex b y her 33-years old
husband while still a child, as her mother-in-law listens in the next room. When she flees back to her
parents, they will not take, because her “place’ is with her husband, Finally divorced, she has less status
than ever before, is framed for a robbery, and her bail is offered by upper-caste men who expect sexual
favors as their reward. After her release, she was kidnapped by bandits who hang-rape her.

It’s at this point that Devi begins to take up arms and fight back. After making peace with bandits, she
decides to become bandit herself. Before the end of the movie, she commands her own gang, which
eventually slaughters more than 20 upper-casters.
Part of what makes the movie so compelling is that the India “Bandit Queen” is vastly different from the
India we have seen on screen before. There is nothing picturesque about the barren ravines that Devi
rides through. There’s nothing spiritual about the behavior of the Muslim or Hindu bandits.

Non-challance towards authority of religion over society and how society has been
sketched out in Bollywood?

‘Oh My God’ the latest Hindi Movie starring world-famous Bollywood actors Paresh Rawal, Akshay
Kumar, and Mithun Chakrabarty has stirred the imagination pf movie-lovers and emerged as a successful
small-budget film of 2012. Kanji Mehta (Paresh Rawal). Is an atheist. For him, god and religion more
than a busieness proposition. He buys idiols that took time-worn and sells them as ‘antique’ statues at
double, triple pr 10 times its original price. The gullible customer truly wants to believe that these are
actually old and rare finds, God is the biggest money spinner for him. His wife, on her other hand, is a
devout Hindu. In fact she goes the extra miles to atone her husband’s sacrilegious babbling. Life has
been a smooth sailing for Kanji until one day when a slight earthquake shakes the city. Kanjibhai decides
to file a case against God on the premise that if God is responsible for his loss, as has been made amply
clear by the insurance Company, then it is God’s responsibility to compensate him for his losses. So
that’s how God gets sued. Kanji sends legal notices to many high priests and heads of various religious
sects. The news spreads like wild that a mad a man a mockery of religion and law alike. Just Kanjibhai
begins to lose ground, a man enters-riding majestic on his flaming bike as he swoops Kanji off the road
straight on to his bike, and speed off-ensuring a crazy chase. But Kanji and the mysterious man emerge
unscathed, much to Kanji’s astonishment! The man introduces himself as Krishna from Mathura. Kanji
questions, who or what is God? When it finally comes down to the proof that God finds it hard to supply
the evidence. After all, how can anyone ever prove that God exists? The proof remains impossible to
find as Kanji loses and realization dawns upon him.

OMG- takes a dig at a lot of current religious practices of the Hindus and raises some pertinent
questions around monetization of religions with passing references to some existing ‘God-men’ of the
country. It is a film about our relationship with God, how instead of being God-loving, we have become
God-fearing. How religion has become a business run by godmen who are not in fact very spiritual on
the existence of God. Basically, the movie raising question towards the non-challance of authority over
the society but not dined the existence of the God as a whole. It makes fun of the blind-faith but not
underestimate the core belief of God’s existence.

PK, and OMG both movie criticize the commercialization of religion and the worship of false gods. Both
argue the relative merits of belief and atheism. Both are comedies that feature potentially blasphemous
dialogue, moments and characters.

Thus in the post-globalized frame in several Bollywood film’s draws Hindutva as a controversial manner
and raise a polemical debate.