If Bollywood is India’s secular religion then Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are its sacred trinity. The three actors, who are not related to each other, have been at the top of the Indian film industry in Hindi for thirty years. With their films, their characters and their figures they have built the imaginary of the country. Together with the prime minister and the captain of the national cricket team, they are perhaps India’s most recognizable faces. Coincidentally, they are also Muslims.
For most Indians, if they think about it, it is a source of pride: the fame of the Khans is a sign of the country’s tolerant secularism. Instead of the Hindu nationalists, well represented by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya janata party (Bjp), this fact does not go down. In recent years, all three actors have received criticism from leading BJP exponents, as well as the usual invitation to “go to Pakistan”.
The strange thing, however, is that, after picking on minor characters and lesser-known producers, the government’s attack on Bollywood has hit the top of the industry. On 3 October, the Narcotics Control Department, a national police force, arrested several people in a drug raid aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai, where much of the industry is based. Among those arrested was also Aryan Khan, 23-year-old son of Shah Rukh Khan, probably the most beloved actor of the three. The drug police said they seized large quantities of drugs, although they later admitted that they found nothing on Aryan. However, the young man was placed in pre-trial detention and until 28 October he was denied the bail that had instead been granted to others. TV channels have given the story maximum coverage and politicians from all over the country have expressed their opinion.
Old allies
The whole story sounds familiar. In 2020, as covid-19 cases increased and the BJP prepared for elections in the very poor eastern state of Bihar, young actor Sushant Singh Rajput, a native of the state, committed suicide in Mumbai. The pro-government TVs, that is, the majority, aired hysterical reports on the Bollywood drug culture and accused Rhea Chakraborty, the victim’s girlfriend, of trapping him with the marijuana demon. Chakraborty was arrested by the drug police and spent a month in jail before being released on bail.
Now it is Uttar Pradesh that is awaiting elections (to be voted in March 2022). The BJP campaign has spread its version of a senseless Bollywood storyline by describing the state, one of the most backward in India, as a shining beacon for the rest of the country. Since it is unlikely to work, the party is also resorting to the usual strategy of stirring up tensions. The circus surrounding Aryan Khan’s arrest is a sequel to last year’s drama.
The fact that this time the target is Muslim is an added value. The attack on Bollywood is a source of important benefits for the BJP, not least that of annoying the government of Maharashtra, the rich western state of which Mumbai is the capital. The dislike dates back to 2019, when the local Shiv Sena party, also pro-Hindu, broke the long-standing alliance with the BJP. Modi and his acolytes have never forgiven their former allies.
Threat too great
But the BJP attack on Bollywood has deeper reasons than election propaganda, political results or the sheer joy of blaming Muslims. Since coming to power in 2014, the BJP has demolished national opposition, co-opted independent institutions, tamed the once vibrant Indian press, and hindered freedom of expression. The party is building a cult of cartoon personality around the figure of Modi, printing his image on everything from government subsidies rice bags to covid-19 vaccination certificates.
Bollywood may be India’s ultimate source of independent thought. It is inherently patriotic, its superstars are almost all apolitical and, after the latest events, most of its members are terrified of saying anything that might catch New Delhi’s attention. However, this is not enough. The fact that in his films Hindu, Muslim and Indian of all kinds get along well with each other, that he faces problems of social injustice and that the characters and the people who play them have liberal values, is too great a threat to the narrow vision of a Hindu nation spread by Modi.
If making Indians imagine themselves only in terms dictated by the BJP means destroying one of the country’s most important cultural and commercial successes, it is a price the party and its prime minister seem willing to pay.
(Translation by Giusy Muzzopappa)
.