Celebrity, Media and Politics: an Indian Perspective

Celebrity, Media and Politics: An Indian Perspective BY JAIDEEP MUKHERJEE IN the summer of 2003, the massive media coverage of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement of his gubernatorial ambitions, juxta- posed against the concurrent, but limited, media attention on Glenda Jackson’s scathing attacks on Blairite politics, policies and path to the Iraq war present an interesting set of parallels, reFecting the media’s obsession with celebrity — including news of it within what is considered ‘political’— in the annual silly-season that blights the British news media. Whilst Schwarzenegger’s plunge into the race to become California’s ‘Gubernator’ (as The Economist termed the position, in reference to the Terminator series of flms and his campaign promise to eliminate the state’s budget defcit) attracted an incredible, perhaps undeserved, volume of media scrutiny for a fading star; yet Glenda Jackson’s attack on Blair, perhaps representative of many disaffected Labour supporters and most of the Opposition, seemed to get media coverage more for who she was and less for what she was saying (a former actress and winner of two Academy Awards. She is presently Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate (London) and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Mayor of London in 1999). In the midst of such maelstroms of media attention and academic analyses that invariably follow, the evolving role of ‘celebrity’ within Indian politics has remained woefully under represented. In ffty-six years of independence, the world’s most populous democracy has elected over ffty actors and actresses, twenty sportspersons, hundreds of India’s erstwhile royals and one infamous ‘bandit queen’ to offce. Beyond those estimates are many prominent businessmen, intellectuals and performing artists who have either held elected or appointed positions or have moved from their earlier careers of renown to prominence in politics. Among the incumbent political leadership, the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, was a missile scientist and one of the brains behind India’s nuclear programme before being nominated — and elected unopposed— to the presidency. Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee enjoys public adulation as poet of some repute. Contemporary trends in Indian media show politicians to be in competition with other ‘celebrities’ for media attention. This article will distinguish trends of celebrity involvement in Indian politics, whilst examining the changing nature of ‘celebrity’ in the Indian public sphere—from the enlightened and conscientious pre-independence activist, through the self-engineered overtly-political media images of Parliamentary Affairs Vol. 57 No. 1, 80–92 © Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government 2004; all rights reserved 10.1093/pa/gsh007 India 81 stars, to the contemporary politician in the media spotlight alongside stars of showbiz, society and sport. It brings together a key stream of thinking on the nature of India’s media, politics and celebrity. Whilst exploring aspects of the history of Indian media, it will juxtapose some of the seminal moments with parallels in celebrity involvement in politics. It considers the fndings of a small survey of people on their impressions of who they think are featured as celebrities in politics by the Indian media. Bearing in mind the incredible diversity that is India, it aims to extend the boundaries of debate on the role of media and celebrity in the politics of India. Who then, have been the recipients of the Indian public’s idolatry and what has been the nature of their relations with the political sphere? We begin by examining the evolution of the concept of ‘celebrity’ and its positioning in public life. For that, one must note the different ways in which celebrity and politics engage. Indian celebrities endorsing political positions. Many celebrities, parti- cularly performers, are drafted in especially during election campaigns to front the political message through advertisements, rally appearances and meetings, promotional flms, songs and music videos. The most signifcant endorsement was possibly made by key cast members of the television version of the Hindu epic Ramayana, then being serialised on India’s public service broadcaster Doordarshan’s network. Much has been written about the chain of events that were initiated with the tele- cast of the Ramayana serial, and the fact that, among other things, it ushered in the frst phase of the widespread acceptance of an overt, pre- dominantly non-secularist (i.e. pro-Hindu) political agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).1 In the actual celebrity-endorsed campaign engineered by the Congress party initially, it was the appearance of the actors and actresses in costume, making them instantly recognisable as key religious fgures of the Hindu pantheon, that made rallies and campaigns featuring them incredibly popular. Celebrity-turned-politicians in India. These individuals are celebrities who have taken their political participation into the electoral arena, as candidates for offce themselves. In most cases it is through their public image and standing that they are able to strengthen the political plat- form they represent and successfully transform their artistic, sporting or literary popularity into electoral success through public support. In India, flm actors and members of India’s erstwhile aristocracy have often used their popular and elevated, almost reverential, public standing to contest elections. Some stars of south Indian cinema (examined below) have been known to actively fashion political personas through the characters they portray, in order to route their transition from screen to political stage. Also, in a country where the mass following of cricket presently, and hockey earlier, have been prime defners of 82 Parliamentary Affairs nationalist sentiment, several sporting icons have made successful transitions into politics. Kirti Azad and Aslam Sher Khan, both at best moderately successful players, used their membership of World Cup winning teams of 1983 (cricket) and 1975 (hockey) to win elections and carve out high-profle political careers. Yet the cricketer with most wins as India’s Test captain — the Oxford-educated, erstwhile royal — Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi never tasted political victory despite two high-profle campaigns for Parliament in 1971 and 1992. In fact, his 1992 campaign —where his wife Sharmila Tagore and son Saif Ali Khan, both popular stars of Bollywood, camp- aigned for him — was less of a rout than his 1971 loss. During the 1998 elections, when India’s Prime Minister Vajpayee was asked about his party’s (BJP) dependence on regional cine-stars to front campaigns and contest elections in key opposition strongholds in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, he suggested, as only a poet can — ‘When stars descend to the earth, there will be light’, reiterating the political impact of the immense reverence in which celebrities in India are held (India Today, 16.2.98). Celebrity politicians in India. This is perhaps the most recent and rapidly escalating trend, where individuals involved with politics, with little or no renown as anything else approaching celebrity in their pre- political lives, have emerged or actively positioned themselves as celebrity politicians. It is their role within politics that makes them the celebrities they are — as they compete for media attention to further their careers. This trend also serves to highlight the role of the media in bringing the political sphere and its participants into contention for media space with those from other walks of life already celebrated and scrutinised there. This will be examined in greater detail below. To put this in con- text, one must frst examine some trends in India’s recent media and political histories. Politics and the media in India: four phases of engagement India is an unique example of a nascent democracy in the emerging world, with over fve decades of uninterrupted democratic rule, overseen by a free judiciary, a fne record of commitment to a free press, a bur- geoning flm and television industry with global reach and a world-leader in parts of the ICT sector which is redefning the way media products are created and consumed. In India’s case the seminal position of flm in its media culture, is crucial to understand the cult of the Indian celebrity. In the history of India’s news media there are four overlapping phases—the activist, endorsive, oppositional and commercialised stages—examined in turn here. The frst Indian publication can be dated back to 1780, after which the colonial press mushroomed with India 83 English and vernacular newspapers. Within a hundred years, Indian industrialists and those later to emerge as leaders opposing British rule saw the press as a catalyst of change and started their own newspapers or edited publications, with clear anti-colonial positions. Most nationalist leaders had experience of activist campaigning journalism. By the 1930s the government-controlled Indian State Broadcasting Service to be christened All India Radio after Independence (or Akashvani, as it is locally known) had become a popular medium, as had the entirely privatised, nascent regional language cinema industries. One of the crucial factors in the parallel growth of radio and flm as the most popular media across India was the fact that literacy was not a prerequisite. Though some content on radio, cinema and early television reFected a degree of social concern, cinema was the frst to veer away towards a preponderance of formulaic, literary and mythological themes created with an eye on commercial success. The flm industry, carved out lucrative niches in the mainstream, Hindi-language (referred to as Bollywood) and vibrant regional-language production centres. By 1941, about 4,000 newspapers and magazines were in print in 17 languages, including English—all precipitating the end of colonial rule. With independence in 1947, the activist phase gave way to an endorsive phase in Indian media. The primary objective of the Indian press until independence, was assisting in attaining freedom.

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