Imagined communities and blind nationalism in South Asian Cinema: The case of war films Ghazi Shaheed (1998) and The Ghazi Attack (2017)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Anderson argued that it was not just the ‘innovation’ of nations as an entity that is important but also the material conditions. The extent of nationalism and patriotism used as a tool in mass media (printed texts and popular culture) in India and Pakistan is evidence of the persisting enmity between neighboring states, which popular culture not only depicts but also ends up reinforcing with its construction of ‘the other’ and ‘the enemy’. The paper analyzes two films, Pakistan’s Ghazi Shaheed (1998) and India’s The Ghazi Attack (2017), which are war-at-sea and submarine films, respectively, To answer the research questions: How do these movies depict ‘imagined’ community and ‘blind’ nationalism? How is this depiction of ‘imagined’ community and ‘blind’ nationalism, similar or different in the two movies made on the same theme, given the backdrop of war and its outcome? In my analysis of the two films, I explore two facets of the concept of blindness: first, referencing Anderson’s definition of being unable to see the community members or enemies, and the blindness one experiences while underwater in a submarine. The paper argues that these ‘imagined’ communities find their stronghold in religion, culture, language, and ways of being in order to justify the existence of separate nations despite being part of the same landmass and empire for centuries. The ‘submarine’ is both an abode for men at sea and a weapon run for the enemy. The submarine, as a patriotically charged body at sea, serving the idea of nationhood, is an extension of the nation’s body in water, unable to see but functioning on the perception and identity gained from the ‘motherland’.