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From Padosi to My Name is Khan : The Portrayal of Hindu–Muslim Relations in South Asian Films

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 24; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/08949468.2011.583570

1545-5920

Pankaj Jain,

South Asian Studies and Conflicts

The portrayal of Hindu–Muslim relations in Hindi-language films has been a topic of discussion in several recent writings; for instance, in Chadha and Kavoori [2008 Chadha , Kalyani , and Anandam P. Kavoori 2008 Exoticized, Marginalized, Demonized: The Muslim “Other” in Indian Cinema . In Global Bollywood . Anandam P. Kavoori and Aswin Punathambekar , eds. Pp. 131 – 145 . New York : New York University Press . [Google Scholar]], Hirji [2008 Hirji , Faiza 2008 Change of Pace? Islam and Tradition in Popular Indian Cinema . South Asian Popular Culture , 6 ( 1 ): 57 – 69 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]], Ghuman [2006 Ghuman , Gagandeep 2006 The Muslim as the ‘Other’ in Bollywood. Countercurrents.org (February 21). http://www.countercurrents.org/arts-ghuman210206.htm (accessed July 1, 2009) . [Google Scholar]] and Rai [2003 Rai , Amit 2003 Patriotism and the Muslim Citizen in Hindi Films . Harvard Asia Quarterly , 7 ( 3 ) (online publication) . [Google Scholar]]. These articles mostly argue that Muslims in Hindi films are “exoticized, marginalized, and demonized and they are portrayed as the ‘other.’” To test this thesis I surveyed several films and found that Hindi films themselves are being stereotyped, based on their recent portrayal of Muslims. As an example, I will first examine an article by Booth [2004 Booth , Greg 2004 Pandits in the Movies: Contesting the Identity of Hindustani Classical Music and Musicians in the Hindi Popular Cinema . Asian Music: Journal of the Society for Asian Music , 36 ( 1 ): 60 – 86 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]] which argues that Muslims were the political Other even in some older films. I will then compare Mishra's article [2002 Mishra , Vijay 2002 Bollywood Cinema: Temples of Desire . New York : Routledge . [Google Scholar]] with Lal [1998 Lal , Vinay 1998 The Impossibility of the Outsider in the Modern Hindi Film . In The Secret Politics of Our Desires: Innocence, Culpability and Indian Popular Cinema . Ashis Nandy , ed. Pp. 228 – 259 . London : Zed Books . [Google Scholar]] in light of the film Khalnayak; and then, following Lal, I will provide my own analysis of some films that are woven around the relationship of Hindus with Muslims but have escaped the attention of film scholars. Although the recent upsurge in “cinepatriotism” and “Hinduness” in Hindi films is (rightly) criticized by scholars, in this article, I look at examples from several films to argue that secularism, embraced by films such as Padosi [1941] and Hum ek hain [1946], has been maintained by most Indian filmmakers. I discuss these films in four categories: India–Pakistan partition, Hindu–Muslim violence, Hindu–Muslim friendly relations, and films about modern Muslim communities. Although most of the films I discuss are Hindi ones I will also make brief references to Pakistani, Bengali-language and other South Asian films.