
Bollywood as a Tool of Occupation and Propaganda
The Indian film industry has remained helpful to the successive political regimes of India, the political institutions, and nationalist actors in constructing socio-political realities both nationally and globally. Even where cinema is acknowledged as a medium of power, the Indian cinema or Bollywood’s impending access to the Indian state and its involvement in contentious political issues such as the Kashmir occupation and the promotion of Hindu nationalist ideology make the Indian film industry very pertinent in the theory of soft power.
The Indian Film Industry and the Kashmir Occupation
The Kashmir occupation has been a continuing crisis since 1947. The Indian film industry has historically portrayed Kashmir through two contrasting lenses: a tropical Garden of Eden, part of India’s mascot, and a war-torn region threatened by terrorism. These representations change according to the new political paradigms in New Delhi and seek to establish the territorial sovereignty of the Indian state in the region after forcibly and brutally annexing it on August 5th, 2019.
Kashmiris have consistently been portrayed without agency in films, which primarily aimed to promote Indian identity, despite the historical, cultural, and ethical differences that set Kashmiris apart. The essence of Indian culture often diverges significantly from true Kashmiri values. Films like Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) and Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965) presented Kashmir as an enchanting backdrop, emphasizing its integration into India while entertaining the Indian audience. This portrayal downplayed the political conflict in the region, reducing Kashmir to a mere picturesque destination for tourists and honeymooners. The genuine voices and emotions of the Kashmiri people, as well as acknowledgment of the region’s contested status, were largely overshadowed by Indian nationalist narratives intended for viewers.
However, after 1989, with the start of more anti-occupation sentiments in Kashmir, the portrayal of the region by the Indian film industry underwent a drastic change. With films like Roja (1992), Mission Kashmir (2000), and Haider (2014), the republic’s portrayal of Kashmir shifted and started to involve the simple opposition of Indian patriotism versus terrorism. Kashmiri Muslims were portrayed either as misguided or apt to be radicalized and turned into the enemy, the villain, while the Indian army was glamorized as a force that was fighting terrorism.
The scrapping of Article 370 in August 2019, which downsized Jammu and Kashmir to a regular Indian state, is another phase of the Indian film industry giving a human rights issue a legal face. Other films, such as Shikara (2020) and The Kashmir Files (2022), shifted to stories that reignited the victimization of Kashmiri Pundits and stabilized anew the rejection of the Kashmiri Muslim freedom struggle as brutish and sectarian. These media narratives masked the governmental human rights abuses taking place in Indian-occupied Kashmir, such as mass imprisonments, enforced disappearances, stifling of protests, etc., while using images associated with victimhood that the state utilized.
The use of the Indian film industry to prop up an occupation-friendly discourse is quite apparent. This melodramatic representation by them remixes the Indian army as defenders and the Kashmiri Muslims as threats; in turn, it creates legitimacy for the state-sanctioned violent occupation of Kashmir and erases Kashmir’s right to self-determination.
The Rise of Hindutva Propaganda
Apart from its function to reconcile with the Indian state in the context of Kashmir, the Indian film industry is now a powerful tool for spreading Hindutva narratives. The ascendance of the political party BJP and its focus on Hindu nationalism have changed the ways that the mainstream Indian film industry responds to and participates in political discourse.
In the present regime, they have moved toward making films that celebrate a plethora of Hindu gods and goddesses and portray Muslims as villains. Films like Padmaavat (2018), Tanhaji (2020), and The Kerala Story (2023) glorify Hindus, and vilify Muslims to mainstream the Hindus as a national priority.
One of the best examples of this shift is The Kerala Story – a film that attempts to reveal a ‘love jihad’ – a conspiracy where, according to which, Muslim men in Kerala lure Hindu women into conversion through the innocent facade of love. Although the facts presented have been debunked, the film accumulated considerable political support and was actively shared by BJP politicians. Its success reveals the fact that the Indian film industry and Bollywood have been gradually serving as an acceptable medium for communal propaganda as well as creating division among religious groups.
In this way, the film industry extends Hindutva voices and erases India’s pluralistic religious and ethnic existence. Such cultural imperialism is capital to the political endeavor of wiping out minority politics and establishing Hindu dominance.
The Indian Film Industry and Soft Power Diplomacy
The Indian film industry goes beyond influencing only Indian consumers and is essential in soft power projection in the Indian geopolitical space. India used its movies to sell itself as a progressive democracy, a nation of opportunities, and a culturally diverse country.
However, such a projection often camouflages the themes of unequal development, authoritarianism, and conflicts inherent to India. Through the export of narratives, the Indian film industry practically molded international opinion, skewing attention away from the Kashmir dispute, diminishing the rights of religious minorities, and repressing dissent.
For instance, films like Slumdog Millionaire are praiseworthy for speaking about India’s spirit and emerging economy, but they do not raise the problem of inequality and the state’s inability to eradicate poverty. Likewise, the Indian film industry’s portrayal of love and joy in the countryside conceals the sufferings of farmers, their suicides, and inequity in the countryside.
The extent to which the Indian film industry is thus orchestrated for soft power diplomacy shows it in a twofold function, both as a cultural emissary and a propagandist tool.
Critiques and Counter-Narratives
The immense censorship and restrictions imposed by the Indian film industry’s role as a propaganda tool have stifled many filmmakers, yet some have and continue to work to defy state narratives and gradually bring ground-level realities to light. There have been a few Indian cinematographers that have attempted to make films that challenge the state narratives. However, such films nearly always draw much criticism, have their content cut, and face government pressure. Over time, the Indian state has expanded its influence over cultural production while newly emergent right-wing censorship organizations put a lid on any oppositional practices within the media space. Ever since 2019 it has become nearly impossible for cinematographers and journalists to produce documentaries and investigative pieces of journalism in Occupied Kashmir. However, independent filmmakers and regional cinemas are slowly and gradually undermining the Indian film industry’s domination by presenting stories that address ground-level realities and concerns.
Among these counter-narratives, the upcoming Kashmiri-directed and produced film, Saffron Kingdom, stands out as a landmark project by and for Kashmiris. This film boldly aims to dismantle the falsehoods propagated by the Indian film industry and offers an unfiltered lens into the lived experiences of Kashmiris under occupation. By centering authentic voices and narratives, Saffron Kingdom challenges the distorted portrayals that have long dominated Indian cinema and presents a truthful, compelling alternative. It is a vital cultural response to decades of propaganda, seeking to reclaim the narrative space and amplify the stories that have been systematically silenced.
The Bottom Line
With changing roles from a cultural program to an occupation and propaganda instrument, the role of cinema in forming and changing political and social discourse cannot be overemphasized. Thus, the Indian film industry continues state discursive practices and contributes to the construction of common sense that legitimates occupation and promotes the collective ideologies of the Indian state.