Hindu Rashtra and Bollywood: A New Front in the Battle for Cultural Hegemony

This paper examines the weaponization by Hindu right-wing politics of the suicide of a young Hindi film actor in September 2020. It argues that his death was invoked in particular ways to sharpen the attack on the Bombay film industry as part of the larger concerted move by the RSS to control and pu...

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Main Author: Nivedita Menon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud 2020-11-01
Series:South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6846
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author Nivedita Menon
author_facet Nivedita Menon
author_sort Nivedita Menon
collection DOAJ
description This paper examines the weaponization by Hindu right-wing politics of the suicide of a young Hindi film actor in September 2020. It argues that his death was invoked in particular ways to sharpen the attack on the Bombay film industry as part of the larger concerted move by the RSS to control and purge spaces seen as either controlled by “left liberals,” or as syncretic and unamenable to Hindu-Muslim polarization. In the course of this attack, some differences within the Hindutva camp have become evident, a phenomenon this paper examines closely.
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spelling doaj-art-47806ef0cfa44388b3a0dc0f4921b5982025-08-20T01:55:21ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602020-11-012410.4000/samaj.6846Hindu Rashtra and Bollywood: A New Front in the Battle for Cultural HegemonyNivedita MenonThis paper examines the weaponization by Hindu right-wing politics of the suicide of a young Hindi film actor in September 2020. It argues that his death was invoked in particular ways to sharpen the attack on the Bombay film industry as part of the larger concerted move by the RSS to control and purge spaces seen as either controlled by “left liberals,” or as syncretic and unamenable to Hindu-Muslim polarization. In the course of this attack, some differences within the Hindutva camp have become evident, a phenomenon this paper examines closely.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6846BollywoodShiv SenaSushant Singh RajputBharatiya Janata Party
spellingShingle Nivedita Menon
Hindu Rashtra and Bollywood: A New Front in the Battle for Cultural Hegemony
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Bollywood
Shiv Sena
Sushant Singh Rajput
Bharatiya Janata Party
title Hindu Rashtra and Bollywood: A New Front in the Battle for Cultural Hegemony
title_full Hindu Rashtra and Bollywood: A New Front in the Battle for Cultural Hegemony
title_fullStr Hindu Rashtra and Bollywood: A New Front in the Battle for Cultural Hegemony
title_full_unstemmed Hindu Rashtra and Bollywood: A New Front in the Battle for Cultural Hegemony
title_short Hindu Rashtra and Bollywood: A New Front in the Battle for Cultural Hegemony
title_sort hindu rashtra and bollywood a new front in the battle for cultural hegemony
topic Bollywood
Shiv Sena
Sushant Singh Rajput
Bharatiya Janata Party
url https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6846
work_keys_str_mv AT niveditamenon hindurashtraandbollywoodanewfrontinthebattleforculturalhegemony