Construction of Religious Minority Groups in Bollywood Cinema: A Historic & Critical Thematic Analysis

Abstract

This article deals with the dominant themes that emerged in the Bollywood Cinema about religious minority groups Like Muslims, Christian, and Sikhs. The research utilized the structure provided by the Clerk and Brown 2006 in terms of thematic Analysis. Thirty movies were selected through purposive and random sampling. Ten movies were represented by each minority Group. The dominant themes found with regard to the Muslim community in Bollywood movies were Islamic terrorism, Islamophobia, economic, education backwardness, and Muslim identity, Sikh dominant themes were found as Comedian, Sikh Identity, Brave, and truthful. Similarly, Christian themes were Westernized, Christian Identity, erotic, and Prostitute. Based on Historic and the critical thematic analysis as well as theoretical grounds of Hall’s representation, Said's Concept of Orientalism, and Noam Chomsky’s propaganda model concept, the research clearly indicated that the Bollywood Cinema blurred the identity of religious minority groups and decorated them as others, for example, it distorts the religious concepts, promotes Islam phobia and connecting Islam with the terrorism, in terms to Muslims treated as brutal, extremist, shelter provider, the danger for the state, etc and Sikh as a painted comedian, drinkers and their culture in merged with the Hindus rituals as well as Christian minority female painted erotic object, westernized and Hypersexual. The research clarifies that the Bollywood cinema articulates the content of the movies under the umbrella of the elite political mindset.