Page 193 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Transnationality, Globalization, and Postcoloniality 177

of the past and what Indians call “ love marriages ” are more the norm. Most
young people of this social group voice a preference for love marriages,
and many fi lms deal with the problems they face as they confront parents
committed more to the traditional model. One very popular recent fi lm,
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge ( Those with the Heart Win the Bride ; 1995),
concerns a young couple whose love is stymied by a father who has arranged
for his daughter to marry someone from their region in India. But one
feature of Indian life is what is called diaspora , the dispersion of a sizable
population over the globe and especially, in this case, in the United
Kingdom. The girl, Simran, makes a trip to Europe, where she meets Raj
(the son of a successful Non - Resident Indian businessman from London),
and they fall in love. Their courtship features transgressive elements that
are common to Bollywood fi lms: faced with a choice at an inn of sleeping
in the one available bed together or sleeping in the barn, Simran chooses
the barn. Raj lovingly keeps her company, and when she awakes in the
morning, he has transferred her to the bed and changed her into pajamas
– all done chastely, of course. But he teases her by pretending they made
passionate love. As the story unfolds, Simran ’ s father refuses to allow her
to escape from the planned marriage, and Raj attempts to insinuate himself
into her father ’ s good graces – but to no avail. In a conservative gesture in

keeping with the cultural idea of self - sacrifice for women, Simran decides
to accept her father ’ s decision. But in the end, when all seems lost, the

father finally relents and Simran and Raj are united. The narrative com-
bines elements of tradition and modernity, affirming both the ideal of

obedience to fathers and the need to modify the old ways in keeping with
more modern practices.

Cross - cultural influence and pollination also lead to the development
of cultural hybrids, graftings of the new and the modern onto the local and
the indigenous. For example, a popular American show, The Newlywed
Game , was adapted to India and produced as Adarsha Dampathigalu
( The Ideal Couple ). Many shows that are cloned in India are infused with
local elements to make them appear less foreign. But some shows are
simply global in character and are not easily localized. Adarsha Dampathigalu ,
for example, is about a taboo subject in conservative Hindu society –
marital relations and sexuality. In the cultural tradition, women did not
often marry across castes, and most marriages were arranged. The domi-
nant cultural myths portray women ’ s anger as more destructive than that
of men, and women were trained in the culture to pursue a path from their
birth home to the home of their husband. There was no leeway for a