Muslims & Khans in Indian Films – Bollywood
“Even though Khans pretty much run the show in Bollywood, but when it comes to portraying Muslims on screen, most of such representation in the mainstream consciousness is marked by stereotypes that swing between royalty and the underworld” (rediff.com, 2018). Bollywood is the producer of cultural data for Indian masses. Bollywood caters the need of a multi-cultural and multi-religious society with a dominating Hindu population.
Studies reveal that Muslims are portrayed in a negative light in Bollywood. Meanwhile, after 26/11, Bollywood has started stereotyping Muslims more adversary (Zafar & Amjad, 2018).
Accordingly, it constructs & codifies signs and meanings. Assigning ‘names’ or ‘surnames’ or ‘titles’ to characters is among various methods to construct a particular image of a particular community. In films, names are also changed to assign meaning to a particular role. For example; “when a Muslim youth Ali Meer had to play a Hindu mythical hero called Puran Bhagat, he was given the name of Kumar” (Manto, 1991: 415). Not only in the films but Muslim talent as a whole were given Hindu names during the 1930s–40s as Bollywood was chiefly Hindu. This is how Shahida became famous as Naina (Manto 1991: 415), Yousuf Khan became Dilip Kumar, Mahjabeen Ara Kamal became Meena Kumari and Mumtaz Jahan Begum became Madhubala (Wright, 2006: 6). With Khans (Amir Khan, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, & Saif Ali Khan) ruling the Bollywood at box-office now, this methodology has been completely reversed.
The playing around of the images of caste occurs so subtly that it almost goes unnoticed. The name ‘Khan’, although just a surname chiefly among Muslims, has come to represent a particular “class” of people- with specific traits and mannerisms, but almost always associated with evil or stupidity in films and TV shows.
This paper aims to bring to light the different ways in which media “circumscribes” the image of Khans, specifically in Bollywood films and TV shows like Citizen Khan (BBC). These would include stereotyping and the predesigned representations and simulacrums of “caste” and caste politics in the media. The paper further looks into how media creates and propagates myths about Khans, and how a surname has now come to define a “caste”. The paper would look into how identities are “fixed” by the media in a world of political correctness.