Santanu Chakrabarti Dissertation for Submission
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© 2012 Santanu Chakrabarti ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BANAL NATIONALISM AND SOAP OPERA by SANTANU CHAKRABARTI A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Communication, Information, and Library Studies written under the direction of Dr. Deepa Kumar and approved by ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October, 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Banal Nationalism and Soap Opera by SANTANU CHAKRABARTI Dissertation Director: Dr. Deepa Kumar As Michael Billig (1995) argues, nationalism does not die with the establishment of relatively stable nation states- it changes from a ‘hot’ to a ‘banal’ form. In this multidisciplinary and multiperspectival study, I study nationalism (specifically Hindu nationalism or Hindutva) in its banal form within popular culture, specifically prime time television soap operas colloquially known as the K-serials. Through a conjunctural analysis, I show how banal Hindu nationalism played out on the K-serials in multiple ways. That is, these serials had an important role in the ongoing project of remaking of the Indian nation under the ideology of Hindutva, creating not just a Hindu nation but a Brahminical nation. This dissertation makes a number of contributions to different bodies of research. One, it examines how the changes in the political economy impact the way audiences are rounded up and how that influences the content of the soaps. I show how the structural limitations of the audience measurement system and the changing focus on the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ consumer influenced the arrival of Hindutva inflected content on television. (I show also, in passing, ii how the currency of television, TRPs, can themselves be gendered). Two, I show how the debate over secularism and religious nationalism in the political sphere get reflected in the cultural sphere, especially in texts that less obviously have anything to do with national politics. Three, I show how the agency and empowerment that other scholars have read into these soaps is derived largely from the discourses of the women’s wing of Hindu nationalism, and is therefore highly problematic, ahistorical, and limiting. Four, I show how the very structure of soaps, especially its ‘open’ ness, periodicity and everydayness can play a significant role in spreading banal nationalism. Five, I show how the operations of banal Hindutva disrupt the relationship between folk and Sanskritic practices, contributing to the homogenizing of Hinduism. And finally, I have shown how by going beyond the texts themselves, we find a bridge between the studies of soaps that look at the micropolitics of gender and those that look at macropolitics of national identity. iii Dedication To the memory of my father iv Acknowledgments The last thing I want to do in a dissertation titled ‘Banal Nationalism and Soap Opera’ is to be either banal or melodramatic. But I’d rather be both than not formally thank those without whom this dissertation would not have happened. So, thank you to: My advisor, Dr. Deepa Kumar, for being as close to a perfect advisor as it is possible to be. Words cannot do justice to her contribution: I simply hope that I can keep learning from her for years to come. My committee members: Dr. Jack Bratich, so intellectually curious and always able to make me see things differently; Dr. David Greenberg, who inspired me to be a better thinker and writer about history, media, and politics; and Dr. Nagesh Rao, whose knowledge of nationalism, and encouragement for my work was indispensable. Dr. Hartmut Mokros, who championed my admission to SC&I. Prof. Steve Miller, who taught me how to be a more engaging teacher, and who was an unflagging source of appreciation, teaching opportunities and Beatles chat! Karen Novick, who among many other things, was instrumental in creating the DCIM program and appointing me to teach in it. Dr. Craig Scott, who revitalized the PhD program and always had time for me. His successor Dr. Marija Dalbello who was equally kind. The administrative and support staff at SC&I, especially Joan Chabrak, Kathy Freunheim, and the IT team. My friends Hannah Kwon, Leon Laureij, and Marianne Martens: thanks for the conversation, camaraderie, and collective complaining. v Priyanka, in New York, for food, friendship, and a life changing piece of advice. Dewan, in Mumbai, for his reliability and uprightness. (And The Daily Show, the Strand Book Store, and the inventors of Netflix and Internet telephony!) The good folk at Star India, especially Sameer Rao, for allowing me to spend hours and hours in their edit suites, watching soap operas and taking furious notes. (And Satya Raghavan, my ex boss, who motivated me to take the leap into uncharted territories.) Sumala and Dipak Ghosh, who provided a home away from home in the US, and helped me navigate the new world, especially in my early days. My in-laws, who held their trepidation in check and encouraged me on. My mother, for always wanting me to be the best I could, giving me a childhood and adolescence to be cherished, and never preventing me from reading whatever I wanted to, at whatever age. My brother for his love, and for taking on a greater load of filial duty when I left for distant shores. My father, who always wanted me to be, more than anything else, a good human being— I am still trying. Above all, my wife Somshukla. Without her having more belief in me than I did myself; without her pushing me to stop moaning, get off my *$^, and take the GRE; without her selflessly signing up to 4 years of a long-distance marriage; without her intelligence, wisdom, kindness,trust and love, all of which I take for granted, this dissertation wouldn’t have happened. Somshukla, this is, as is everything else, for you. vi Table of Contents ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ii Acknowledgments v CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION 1 Hindu nationalism or Hindutva 2 The reach and success of the K-serials 8 Critical response: Then and now 14 The K-serials: A significant departure 16 Banal nationalism 21 CHAPTER 2- SERIALS, SOAPS AND OTHERS: 36 A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Western serials and soaps 36 Latin American and Arab serials and 44 soaps Indian serials and soaps 48 Nationalism, the nation and the state 59 Beyond culturalist analyses 65 Some avenues for exploration 74 CHAPTER 3- TRACING THE TRANSITIONS: 83 POLITICS, POLITICAL ECONOMY, AND TELEVISION CONTENT The birth and development of neoliberal economic 85 policies in India: 1973-1985 Indian television: The early days 91 Neoliberal economics in India: 1990-1995 93 A very brief history of Hindu nationalism in 20th 97 century India Hindu nationalist politics, culture and citizens: 105 Early-mid 1990s A kind of consensus emerges: Late 1990s 112 Indian television: Content and context 115 The woman on TV: Before the K-serials 133 Television’s middle class focus: Before the K-serials 136 The rise of Star Plus and the advent of a new era 139 of television CHAPTER 4- HINDUTVA: SPECTACLE, BANALITY, 144 IDEOLOGY The ideas of India 146 The debate around secularism: What is at stake 156 Centralizing, fixing, and eliminating diversity: 162 The work of Hindu nationalism Brahminism, ‘Sanskar,’ and the ideological function 168 of rituals Hindu nationalists and Muslims 173 Hindu nationalism and popular culture 180 Hindu symbolism: Complexity vs. exclusionary 196 maneuvers Hindu nationalism as spectacle 199 vii Moving away from a politics of spectacle 1: 204 The BJP in power Moving away from a politics of spectacle 2: 209 Hindutva and gender Banal Hindu nationalism in action 217 CHAPTER 5-TARGETING THE AUDIENCE, OR 221 WHY THE ‘HINDI TURN’ OF STAR PLUS BECAME THE ‘HINDU TURN’ The shift in marketing: Redefining consumption 223 potential The shift in television: Seeking the mass audience 235 Star Plus: The ‘Hindi turn‘ 245 Advertisers on Star Plus: What were they looking 252 for? Targeting the Hindutva audience 253 Muslims: The unimaginable consuming class 266 CHAPTER 6-THE K-SERIALS AND BANAL HINDU 270 NATIONALISM Setting the tone for banal Hindutva: The opening 272 credits Sanskar and sanskriti in the service of banal Hindu 288 nationalism Banal Hindu nationalism, naturalization, and 321 soap opera Cultivating the Hindu consumer through ‘middle 328 class’ values The absent presence: Muslims 340 CHAPTER 7- GENDER, HINDUTVA, AND THE 352 K-SERIALS Women as assets of the family 355 The centrality of marriage and family 360 The woman’s work: Shaping herself for the sake 363 of the family Women: Work, ambition, aspiration 373 Reconciling tensions, or having their cake and eating 379 it too The wisdom of the males 389 Reading agency in the K-serials 392 The gendered commodity of television 397 ‘Modernity,’ ‘tradition,’ ‘controlled emancipation‘ 400 CHAPTER 8-CONCLUSION 402 Television and the secularism debate 405 The contribution of this work 409 Future directions 412 BIBLIOGRAPHY 414 APPENDIX 430 viii List of Illustrations 1. The world economic pyramid 229 2. The urban SEC grid 231 3. Performative prayer: Idols and 293 worshippers (a & b) 4. The Ram of Hindutva 294 5. Ram and Sita idols in the Agarwal family 305 home 6. The idol of Ganesh over the shoulder of 306 Ajay’s boss 7. Picture of Balaji in the Virani boardroom 307 8. The (lucky?) laughing Buddha 308 9. Mihir & Tulsi out of focus and Krishna & 309 Radha in focus (a & b) 10. Parvati creating a rangoli 312 11. The persistent jewellery box 331 12. Knick knacks, gewgaws and the coding 332 of affluence (a & b) 13. The more prominent than required cell phone 332 14.