Walking between two worlds: Bollywood cinema and the New Zealand-Indian identity

ABSTRACT

Using thematic analysis, this qualitative research interrogates the influence and relevance of Bollywood cinema, Indian Hindi movies considered both a brand, a cultural artefact, and a complex industry, in shaping the cultural identities of Indian diasporic youth in Auckland. This research unpacks the extent to which Bollywood films as mediating artefact might offer connection, concatenation, or complication to diasporic youths as they negotiate and locate their hybrid cultural identities through their daily lived experience away from India. Diasporic youths called out the dissonance, they felt between depiction of Indianness in Bollywood and their way of life now. Others, when invested in specific and contextual Bollywood phenomena in their lived experience through dance performances and subsequently reaping monetary or social benefits, presented a different perspective. To them, Bollywood cinema offered a desired comforting manifestation and celebration of their Indianness. The findings thus far affirm that the myriad of views, sometimes conflicting, still underscore the vitality and vibrancy of Bollywood cinema amongst diasporic youths in Auckland.

KEYWORDS:

• Bollywood
• New Zealand
• India
• cultural Identity
• cinema
• diaspora
• identity
• South Asian

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nilam Patel

Nilam Patel's academic interests are at an intersection of pop-culture, Hindi cinema (Bollywood), identity politics and communications. She completed a Bachelor of Communication Studies in Journalism with a scholarship awarded by Television New Zealand (TVNZ). She is currently pursuing a Master of Communication Studies at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).