Abstract
Bollywood is among the leading cultural industries of the Global South. This cinema has also had significant impact on Hollywood, British and diasporic cinemas. Indian-Muslims were historically central to the founding and development of the Bombay Film Industry (Masud, 2008), this was also the case in its transformation into Bollywood (Vasudevan, 2000; Mishra, 2002). Yet Muslims – Indian and diasporic - are not only marginalized but under siege in the current reshaping of Indian and Western politics by right-wing nationalisms. This paper studies the films of Bollywood’s biggest star, Shah Rukh Khan, an Indian Muslim. Khan’s stardom is paradoxical: a minoritized Indian Muslim, he symbolizes the ‘ideal’ Indian man; an Indian nationalist, Khan signifies the transnational South Asian diasporic subject and is a global Muslim icon. The star is hence a powerful, albeit polysemic, cultural symbol that crosses many borders. My paper explores how SRK’s screen persona ‘travels’ from the Indian context into the cultural politics of the multi-national South Asian diaspora. A racially and religiously minoritized Other, what does Khan’s stardom reveal about the politics of belonging in the present juncture? Analyzing a number of Khan’s biggest box office hits, I demonstrate how the star’s performances reveal the workings of a minoritized consciousness. My argument is that the star’s performances destabilize the Othering of the Muslim male in national, diasporic and global politics. Presenting a critical reading of pivotal moments in SRK films, I delineate how these performances open up space for reimagining the contemporary politics of belonging.
Presenters
Sunera ThobaniFaculty, Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Beyond Borders: The Role of the Humanities in Reimagining Communities
KEYWORDS
South Asia, Nationalisms, Diaspora, Culture, Films, Islamophobia
