Life in a Bollywood diaspora

Globalisation and the media shape our opinions and perception of the world in many ways. In particular, globalisation and the media can shape the way we identify with culture. When we move across physical boundaries, whether through migration or travel, we are likely to find ourselves in unfamiliar cultural environments. Indeed, many of us may find that these new cultural environments lead us to identify with our home culture in different ways. The purpose of this final blog is to assess how the views of our home culture change when we are abroad. In particular, this blog will examine how diasporic Indian communities use Bollywood to connect with India. It will be seen that Bollywood is not only used by diasporic Indian communities to engage with India but it is also a form of exilic narrowcasting. In this respect, it will be argued that society must exercise caution and not make assumptions about the effects globalisation and transnational media on diasporic Indian communities. In particular, diasporic Indians don’t necessarily enjoy Bollywood because it allows viewers to connect with their Indian homeland and be reminded of its traditional values. Instead, Bollywood might mirror the diaspora.

Diaspora denotes a ‘form of consciousness which is particularly compatible with transnational identities in the current era of late modernity and globalization’ (Dudrah 2002, p. 20). Dudrah writes that diaspora refers to an ‘interplay of migrant people, their successive settled generations, and their ideas in terms of a triadic relationship’ (2002, p. 20). This can be understood as meaning that there is a relationship between migrants, their home culture, their new culture and their ‘diasporic consciousness’. This triadic relationship moves between cultures to create a new, hybrid 'diasporic' culture (Dudrah 2002, p. 20).

Deterritorialisation, facilitated by globalisation, has created a new market for media outlets that ‘thrive on the need of the deterritorialised population for contact with its homeland’ (Appadurai 1996, p. 38). In the context of the Indian diaspora, Bollywood films are particularly appealing to Indian audiences living away from home. In fact, Verstappen and Rutten write that Bollywood filmmakers have developed a strong interest in diasporic Indian cinemagoers (2007, p. 212). Bollywood filmmakers have adapted their style to match diasporic tastes by dubbing Hindi films into English, editing down to shorter versions more acceptable to audiences accustomed to Hollywood feature lengths and including uncensored versions (Verstappen and Rutten 2007, p. 212 and Walsh 2006). Thus, instead of ridiculing Indians who live abroad Bollywood films actually appeal to and engage with these Indian communities by targeting the social and cultural identity crisis they may experience as well as feelings of longing and nostalgia for their Indian homelands (Dudrah 2010, p. 20 and Verstappen and Rutten 2007, p. 213). Verstappen and Rutten write that Bollywood ‘shows us an Indian fantasy about the diaspora’:

In this fantasy, India is the center of the world and the diaspora is its periphery. India is endowed with all kinds of desirable values such as purity, authenticity, and piety. The diaspora, on the other hand, is rich and free but corrupted and self-centered. These migrants can do everything that is forbidden in India, but still they crave for their long-lost homeland and often make sacrifices to reconnect with it (2007, p. 214)

The 1995 film Diwali Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (The Braveheart Will Take the Bride) was the first Bollywood film to target diasporic Indian audiences. The film tells the story of a young Indian woman living in England who is torn between an Indian man back in England and her father’s wish for her to fulfill an arranged marriage to a Punjabi man in India. However the Indian man living in England stays true to his Indian roots by refusing to elope with the young woman until her father approves as per Indian tradition. The film was extremely popular in the West and it has been argued that this popularity stemmed from the films focus on the ‘very roots of Indian culture’, reminding diasporic Indians to stay true to their Indian roots whilst living abroad (Khubchandani 2001).

However, such an interpretation does not recognise the diversity of diasporic culture. Are Bollywood films so popular with diasporic Indian viewers because they encourage diasporic Indians to reconnect with the traditions and values of India? Or, do diasporic Indian viewers watch Bollywood films to de-connect themselves from the diaspora? Verstappen and Rutten found that the Hindustani youths living in the Netherlands did not watch Bollywood movies because they wanted to ‘de-link from their own environment’ and reconnect with their Indian homeland (2007, p. 230). Instead, Bollywood helped them ‘live their lives in the Netherlands by making them feel normal’ (Verstappen and Rutten 2007, p. 230). This tells us that we must exercise caution and not make assumptions about the effects of globalization and the media in the context of diaspora studies. In particular, we must be careful not to assume that Bollywood appeals to diasporic Indians because it teaches them about India or encourages them to implement Indian traditions into their new life in the diaspora.  Instead, it is possible that diasporic Indian communities are connected to Bollywood because it allows them to engage with the struggle between modernity and tradition that diasporic Indian people experience when living abroad.

The struggle between traditional Indian and diasporic cultures is now been specifically targeted. Arguably, Bollywood is now been used as a form of exilic narrowcasting for diasporic Indian viewers to negotiate the divide between India and the diaspora. Narrowcasting occurs where a program or programming is aimed at a specific limited audience or sales market (Naficy 2003). Most Bollywood films that are popular amongst diasporic Indian communities are made in India and therefore not examples of exilic narrowcasting. However, an increasing number of films and programs are produced in the diaspora and specifically tailored for consumption by diasporic Indian communities (Naficy 2003, 53). For example, SBS has targeted the diasporic Indian community in Australia with its recent program Bollywood Star which gives ordinary Australian-Indians the chance to win a role in a Bollywood movie (SBS 2012). This program is an example of exilic narrowcasting as it attempts to negotiate the divide between India and the diaspora by combining Indian culture with elements of the new culture (i.e. reality television). Thus, SBS has found a niche market segment and has developed a program that is more specifically attuned to the characteristics of Australian-Indian consumers (Hannerz 1996, p. 74). These consumers want to experience a combination of modern or Western cultural elements and Indian cultural elements so as to mirror their lives in the diaspora. 

It is important to understand that globalisation and the media affect people in various ways. In the context of diasporic Indian communities, globalisation and an influx of new media technologies have enabled these communities to connect with their Indian homeland in diverse ways. Bollywood filmmakers have found a niche market in diasporic Indian communities and have sought engage with Indians abroad by targeting the social and cultural identity crisis they may experience as well as feelings of longing and nostalgia for their Indian homeland. However, whilst some people may feel that Bollywood teaches them about India and reminds them about traditional Indian values we cannot assume that this is the case for all diasporic Indian people. It is important to remember that many diasporic Indian people watch Bollywood films because they mirror their lives in the diaspora.

Reference List

Appadurai, A 1996, Modernity At Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

Dudrah, RK 2002, ‘Vilayati Bollywood: Popular Hindi Cinema-Going and Diasporic South Asian Identity in Birmingham (UK)’, The Public, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 19-36.

Hannerz, U 1996, Transnational Connections: Culture, People, Places, Routledge, London.

Lata Khubchandani (2001), DDLJ Story Goes to the Roots of Indian Culture: Transcripts of the Interviews, retrieved 26 September 2012, <www.rediff.com/broadband/2001/feb/05trans.htm>

Naficy, H 2003, ‘Narrowcasting in Diaspora: Middle Eastern television in Los Angeles’, in KH Karim (ed.), The Media of Diaspora, Routledge, London, pp. 51–62.

SBS 2012, Bollywood Star, retrieved 27 September 2012 <http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/bollywoodstar/about/page/i/1/h/About/>

Verstappen, S and Rutten, M 2007, ‘Bollywood and the Indian Diaspora: Reception of Indian Cinema Among Hindustani Youth in the Netherlands’, in G Oonk (ed.), Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory, Amsterdam University Press, pp. 211-33. 

Walsh, C 2006 'Bollywood focuses on opening up the West', The Guardian, retrieved 5 October 2012, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/mar/19/bollywood.india>