Published In

Stardom in Contemporary Hindi Cinema: Celebrity and Fame in Globalized Times

Document Type

Post-Print

Publication Date

2020

Subjects

Celebrity -- Globalization -- India, Hindi films -- Globalization

Abstract

Chapter 3. This essay studies the particular brand of Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) as he achieves superstardom in the Hindi film industry and as a thought leader, earn ing him the moniker Badshah (king). By transcending ossifying gender roles and ethnic-religious divisions might SRK be the quintessential Indian man who stands for the nation (Cayla in Advertising Soc Rev 9(2), 2008)? Or is he a modern metro sexual whose identity is hybrid? This accounts for the dialectical tension that arises from the ‘celebrity’ of SRK as global businesses boldly recruit cinephile audiences as consumer-patriots of neoliberal India transforming dated identities of citizen-patriots in postcolonial India. What follows then is the provocation that the study of celebrity is a very particular cultural formation that Graeme Turner believes, “is a productive location for the analysis of cultural shifts around gender, race or nationality” (Celebr Stud 1(1), p.13, 2010). Lastly, the essay explores how SRK recoups his image as a charismatic actor and leader, not just as a brand ambassador of multinational com modities. Through ethnographic insight I propose that in SRK-defined films such as My Name is Khan global Muslim audiences find a way to talk about and understand their own experience of being Muslim during the Global War on Terror.

Rights

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Stardom in Contemporary Hindi Cinema: Celebrity and Fame in Globalized Times, 31-44. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication.

Description

12 month embargo, per publisher AM version

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0191-3_3

DOI

10.1007/978-981-15-0191-3_3

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42650

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