Page 286 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

Hindutva in the Film Industry and Film Production

The Hindi ¤lm industry in Bombay has long-established connections
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with politics. Several ¤lm stars have become Members of Parliament (MPs) or
have joined the Rajya Sabha (Upper House), but there has never been the close
connection between political parties and cinema that there is in South India,
where cinema is preoccupied with local political concerns.
Yet, even with the rise of Hindutva, most Hindi ¤lm industry personnel do
not espouse this ideology, although some stars are active in BJP politics. This
may be because the industry has always employed many Muslims, the result, in
part, of Bombay’s sizable Muslim population and also the long tradition of
Muslims working alongside Hindus in the arts, notably music. At Partition, a
few Muslims from the Bombay industry migrated to Pakistan, such as Noor
Jehan, but most remained. Simultaneously the Lahore ¤lm industry found itself
in the new state of Pakistan, but many of its key personnel migrated to Bombay.
The Hindi ¤lm industry continues to have many prominent and powerful Mus-
lims as stars, ¤nanciers, writers, musicians, and so on, and Muslims work at all
levels of the business, while the industry has loose associations with secular,
leftist, or Marxist organizations. Although many rituals in the ¤lm industry
have a clearly “Hindu” base, such as astrological moments of auspiciousness,
propitious ceremonies, and so on, these are part of a general South Asian culture
and would offend only the most orthodox Muslims.
Until recently Urdu, which is popularly associated with Muslim culture, has
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been valued over Hindi in the “Hindi” ¤lm industry. Hindi cinema is rooted
in Urdu traditions, and so Urdu-educated writers are required for dialogues and
lyrics as are actors who can deliver Urdu dialogues. This language factor was
also important for the dominance of Punjabis in the industry especially after
Partition, as Urdu was the main language of culture for all Punjabis before In-
dependence. 10
This situation changed in the 1990s, as Urdu, while still highly valued in the
industry and by the audience, became more isolated from the mainstream. Few
of the younger people in the industry know Urdu well, with some notable ex-
ceptions, but the great lyricists are still educated in the language, such as Javed
Akhtar and the late Anand Bakshi (died 2002). However, the popularity of the
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light classical ghazal and the Su¤ qawwali has perpetuated the attractions of
Urdu. It is seen as a “sweet language,” and is still highly regarded as being asso-
ciated with culture and learning (see Dwyer 2002b).
One of the striking features of the 1990s is the dominance of male Muslim
stars, notably the Khans (Shahrukh, Aamir, and Salman, no relation), although
female Muslim stars are now rare. In early cinema, stars often changed their
names to hide strong caste or regional associations, and several Muslims used
Hindu screen names, notably Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan). The Muslim back-
ground of today’s stars—two of whom have Hindu wives—is accepted without

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