Internationalising Celebrity Studies: turning towards Asia

KEYWORDS:

• Asian celebrity
• Asian stardom
• celebrity studies
• internationalisation

Introduction

Celebrity Studies is a growing interdisciplinary field; its members use diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to explore cultures of celebrity and an eclectic range of subjects. The field’s development, maturation and, in Franssen’s words (2020, p. 494), ‘ever-expanding universe’ is intertwined with the journal that bears its name, Celebrity Studies. Over the 10 years since its inauguration, Celebrity Studies has recognised the critical potential of analysing celebrity from a diversity of perspectives and encouraged provocative pieces that signal new research directions (Franssen 2020). However, as Su Holmes recognises in her valedictory editorial (Holmes et al. 2019), Western celebrities and cultures continue to dominate the field. Likewise, in their recent special issue on Star Studies’ perceived ‘mid-life crisis’, Shingler and Steenberg (2019) share their concerns about (the difficulty to arrest) the shared Western centricity of star and celebrity studies.

Almost despite itself, Celebrity Studies remains Anglo-centric, largely focused on the global North, and predominated by Euro-American case studies. Moving the field forwards, its next phase of growth will benefit from greater attention to largely uncultivated local diversities beyond Western ideo-geographical and sociocultural contexts. As the world’s most populous continent, Asia has increasingly vibrant media, entertainment and celebrity industries. Stardom and celebrity are a central part of its globally expanding media, cultural and entertainment economies, interconnected and divided by numerous distinct national imaginaries and transnational vectors. Yet far from matching its booming, lucrative, and globalising entertainment and cultural industries, English-language celebrity scholarship has paid insufficient attention to Asian examples, or the complex and multifarious relationship between Asian and Western practices and perspectives on stardom, celebrity and fandom. This is borne out by statistical analysis of articles published in Celebrity Studies. Since its inaugural issue through to the end of 2020, less than 10% of the near 500 articles (excluding book reviews) published in the journal discuss Asian stardom or celebrity. Checks of the ‘Top 30 most read articles’ and ‘Top 30 most cited articles’ amplify this, with only one Asia-focused article on each list. As imperfect as these statistics are, it is apparent that even in a journal that rightfully prides itself on encouraging a diversity of approaches and perspectives, Asian subjects have been profoundly under-represented.

Why and how to internationalise Celebrity Studies: Starring Asia

Celebrity studies sits at the intersection of a range of disciplines and fields – its great strength – with media and cultural studies the ‘most energetic hub’ (Holmes and Redmond 2010). Olivier Driessens (2014, p. 115), adapting Nick Couldry, defines celebrity cultures as ‘collections of sense-making practices whose main resources of meaning are celebrity’. Driessens asserts that this simple transposition can help better explain what celebrity cultures are because

It is not only about the collective of specific celebrities themselves, but also about the industry that produces them and the different commodities built around them that people consume, about the different meanings attached to celebrities, and about what people do and say in relation to celebrity.

The deep connection between celebrity cultures and media cultures is evident in the close association between celebrities and celebrity industry with popular media (from film and TV to social media, short-video and live-streaming apps) and the cultural production, circulation and consumption surrounding them. In Turner’s words, ‘the production of celebrity articulates with varying patterns of media regulation, production and consumption’ (2010, p. 16). It is little wonder then that scholars in celebrity studies are trained and engage in media, cultural, star and new/social media studies. Yet as Marcus (2015) argues, celebrity cultures are changing alongside radical shifts in media platforms, formats and channels.

The need to internationalise media and cultural studies has been broadly advocated since the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the deepening globalisation of global media and cultural industries (Curran and Park 2000, Abbas and Nguyet Erni 2005, Livingstone 2007, Thussu 2009, Iwabuchi 2014). Acknowledging the limitations of the epistemological essentialism rooted in Anglo-American academic traditions, these pioneer scholars advocated for engagement with diverse locales and intellectual traditions in non-Western societies, and adopting a comparative, transnational, or international approach to de-Westernise the disciplines. Specifically, some stressed the importance of studying Asia due to its crucial role in transnational media and cultural flows, and the complexity and diversity of its media and popular cultural practices. Daya Thussu (2009, p. 18) contends that any meaningful attempt to internationalise media studies must consider ‘the rise of Asia’, especially China and India. The dramatic economic growth of the two ancient civilisations, and the associated increasing global media and cultural impact are firmly creating ‘globalization with an Asian accent’. Thussu (2014) concludes that the rise of ‘Chindian’ soft power is leading the challenge to US-dominated media and cultural hegemony.

According to Nguyet Erni and Chua (2005), the history of ‘Asian media studies’ can be traced to the 1960s and has experienced three overlapping stages, from ‘appropriation for legitimacy’ (1960s–1970s) and ‘self-legitimacy through rejecting western cultural imperialism’ (late 1970s-early 1990s) through to ‘critical legitimacy through deconstructive postcolonial tactics’ (early 1990s-present). Historically, Asian media scholars have uneasily negotiated subject positions by mixing Western concepts, theories and methods with local cultures, politics and media practices. Koichi Iwabuchi (2014, p. 47) proposes ‘inter-Asian referencing’ as a way to de-Westernise media and cultural studies. The approach advocates transcending the ‘West/Rest paradigm’ by ‘promoting dialogue among diverse voices and perspectives derived and developed in Asian contexts’. As he argues

By re-embracing deep-seated western inflections in a global scale, inspired inter-Asian comparison and referencing aims to refreshingly elucidate and theorise specific processes in which the experiences of Asian modernisations have been formulated, whereby knowledge production derived from Asian experiences leads to the articulation of visions and values that are translocally relevant for transmuting not just Asian societies, but also European societies and the world as a whole. (Iwabuchi 2014, p. 47)

In addition to advocacy for an Asian focus and approach, the establishment of germane academic associations (e.g. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society, Chinese Communication Association, The East Asian Popular Culture Association), and launch of numerous scholarly book series (e.g. Routledge’s ‘Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia’, Hong Kong University Press’s ‘TransAsia: Screen Cultures’, Rowman & Littlefield’s ‘Asian Cultural Studies: Transnational and Dialogic Approach’) and dedicated academic journals (e.g. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, Asian Journal of Communication) have significantly increased the visibility of Asian media and cultural studies, and promoted the formation of academic community across borders and disciplines.

Extending calls to internationalise media and cultural studies through an Asian ‘turn’, we similarly advocate for greater attention to Asian contexts, perspectives and practices to internationalise Celebrity Studies. Asia offers complex and unique context(s) to study celebrities and celebrity cultures, a region where transnational media flows intensify, cultural hybridisation prevails, (post)colonialism and nationalism collide, and diverse historical and political traditions co-exist. This Asian Celebrity Studies requires more than merely conducting Asian case studies or applying Western concepts, theories and methods to the same. Instead, it will profit from the greater visibility of empirical research by Asian scholars, non-Asian scholars with Asian language-cultural proficiency, and intercultural research collaborations that encourage historically informed analyses of interconnected national, inter-Asian and transnational contexts, and genuine cross-cultural dialogue and productive intersections between East and West. The enhanced critical analysis of Asian celebrities and celebrity cultures will help develop international understandings of celebrities and refine or challenge dominant theories. By embracing the ‘reciprocal listening’, ‘cross-border dialogue’, and ‘transcultural approach for comparative research’ promoted by Asian media and cultural scholars (Thussu 2009, Iwabuchi 2014), Celebrity Studies can address stubborn epistemological limitations and decolonise the field.

Research on Asian celebrity and stardom: some trends and gaps

A pervasive force in twenty-first-century society, celebrity culture is constituted through dynamic interplays between celebrities, media, culture, economy, and politics. As a culturally local but also global phenomenon, the ‘operation of a celebrity culture’ is always ‘embedded in national and transnational cultures’ (Marshall 2006, p. 9). Therefore, its study requires both local knowledge and a transnational horizon to identify its geo-cultural and geopolitical distinctions, as well as its interconnections with celebrity cultures in other national contexts. Case studies remain the most popular method in researching celebrities and celebrity cultures. Scholars typically start from a particular celebrity phenomenon within a certain national or transnational context and employ a range of qualitative sub-methods, including textual analysis, discourse analysis, interview, and (digital) ethnography, to examine their example/s. As a dynamic region, Asia offers unique (and not so unique) historical, social, cultural and political contexts, as well as a range of related celebrity phenomena. Studying Asian celebrity and stardom will expand the current research agenda in Celebrity Studies and holds the potential to innovate theoretical and methodological developments. The scope of under-researched, locally specific celebrity phenomena is far-reaching. The below merely posits some initial, clear trends and directions for potential research, focusing on Japan, India, China, and South Korea because they have the most developed celebrity cultures and industries in Asia and the most global impact.

Since at least the 1980s, Japan has been a powerhouse of Asian popular culture. Japanese drama, film, music, animation, and games have been widely consumed globally and profoundly influenced the region’s pop culture industries (Iwabuchi 2002, Tsutsui 2010, Allen and Sakamoto 2014, Freedman and Slade 2017). The global reach of Japanese popular culture has been used to evidence cultural glocalisation (reinventing Western pop culture for Asian consumption) and ‘decentring globalization’ (Japan-centred transnational cultural flows in Asia and beyond) (Iwabuchi 2002). Yet compared to the extensive scholarship on Japanese popular culture, its idols and celebrities are relatively overlooked. Patrick W. Galbraith and Jason G. Karlin’s Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture (2012) arguably remains the most comprehensive English-language volume on such celebrity. As they observe, although idol culture is the most prominent characteristic of Japanese popular culture it has been seriously overlooked in scholarly debates. They argue that the study of Japanese celebrity culture would significantly contribute to ‘global and comparative analysis of media systems’ and ‘productive dialogue with celebrity studies and media theory’ (Galbraith and Karlin 2012, p. 2). Indeed, the widespread adoption of its cutthroat idol training, production and management (Jimusho) system throughout Asia alone deserves greater scholarly attention. Additional subjects could include the paradoxical pressures on idols to be perfect and accessible, the fan desires generated by celebrities (e.g. cutesy idol, AV idol, and flower boy idol), and perception of celebrity idols in countries where strong historical anti-Japanese nationalistic sentiments persist, such as China and South Korea.

Nowhere is the long-standing interconnectivity between stardom and celebrity observed by Shingler and Steenberg (2019) clearer than in India. In Bollywood cinema, which has dominated the imagination of South Asian filmgoing audiences for more than a century, stars, rather than narrative or genre, have always been the biggest drawcard. Lal and Nandy (2006) and Dwyer (2006), following Dyer and McDonald (1998), recognise that Bollywood stars have long been constructed as commodities. Beyond selling stories and attracting audiences, this celebrity is uniquely exploited through politics, social outreach, and product endorsements, with stars genuinely countenanced for their views on political, social, economic, and religious issues, albeit not without controversy. Offering ample potential for scholarship on idolatry, Dwyer and Patel (2002) and Bhattacharya (2013) argue that audience admiration and affection for Bollywood stars are similar to the darshan (worship) of the Hindu gods; with this veneration leading to many fan-built temples (Kishore 2014). In recent years, the tenuous dichotomy between stardom and celebrity has been sundered by the rise of social media, with the consequent ‘celebrification’ of Bollywood creating ever greater interest in its stars (Nayar 2009, p. 68). Most recently, the alleged suicide of rising star Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020 sparked the creation of emotionally charged international fan groups on social media to pressure police to investigate his case. The Indian media followed suit, even side-lining coverage of the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic. Rajput’s case – and subsequent insinuations against his partner, actress Rhea Chakraborty – not only confirms the global consumption of Indian celebrities/stars, but also the importance of examining Indian diasporic fandom’s soft power role and reassessing the relationship between celebrities and fans globally.

China has the largest media and entertainment market in the Asia Pacific and is second only to the US worldwide (De Ritis and Si 2016). In China’s socialist market economy, media and entertainment industries are complexly subject to both neoliberal market ideology (as a robust growth engine for the national economy) and socialist ideology (as a means for propaganda and ‘edutainment’). Accordingly, the social responsibilities of and public expectations on celebrities, as well as celebrity power and politics, are vastly different from the West. As the public face of the media and entertainment industries, celebrities must painstakingly struggle between market logic (to seek attention, fame and economic gain) and Party logic (to pass on ‘positive energy’ to influence people’s hearts and minds) (Xu and Zhao 2019). China’s market-oriented, Party-controlled media and cultural industries, as well as its socialist ‘role model’ legacies, have created a unique ecosystem for celebrity production, performance (persona), and governance, such as the official call to cap stars’ sky-high salaries (Xu and Jeffreys 2020), bans of ‘tainted’ celebrities (see Xu and Yang in this issue), and the release of social responsibility rankings (Fan 2018). These phenomena urgently require dynamic, historically informed, interdisciplinary analysis, especially as China’s global rise seemingly accelerates in the aftermath of Covid-19.

The Korean Wave (Hallyu) has been widely studied as a prominent example of transnational media and cultural flows within and beyond Asia (Chua and Iwabuchi 2008, Kim 2013, Kuwahara 2014, Jin 2016). Existing scholarship predominantly focuses on the transnational success and fandom of K-drama and K-pop (Han 2017, Sun and Liew 2019, Yoon 2019, Lynch 2020), but the idol training system, production cycle, and perception of idols within South Korea warrants greater scholarly attention. Lee Jong-im’s (2018) ground-breaking book, Idol Trainees’ Sweat and Tears (in Korean), documents the untold stories behind K-pop idols to criticise their merciless exploitation by the country’s cultural and entertainment conglomerates (chaebol). The heart-breaking suicides of young K-pop celebrities (e.g. Jonghyun, Sulli and Goo Hara) in recent years, which have exposed the dark side of the industry and the terrible conditions experienced by Korean entertainers (Harber 2019), signal an urgent need for wider exploration of idols’ lived experiences, from their relations with management companies and fans, through to persona construction, labour and well-being. More recently, scholarship in social media micro-celebrity and consumption has emerged, particularly in global phenomena such as meokbang (e.g. Donnar 2017). However, as Park and Hong’s article in this issue demonstrates, this work on popular and new media celebrity must be historically informed, including in detailing government ambivalence and shifting attitudes to such phenomena.

East Asia also has the world’s largest social media market and most vibrant digital economy and media cultures. China and South Korea, in particular, are at the forefront of global ‘internet celebrity’ or ‘micro-celebrity’ culture, especially in utilising native platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili and Weibo (China) or AfreecaTV and Naver (South Korea). The influencer economy in the region, for example, has grown dramatically in recent years, with China alone predicted to be worth up to USD 43 billion by 2020 (Feng 2019). Notwithstanding recent attempts to lessen its influence in the US and India, China also provides the digital infrastructure for the global internet celebrity culture and influencer economy. TikTok, the international version of Douyin, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has become the world’s most popular short-video and live-streaming app, with 800 million active users. However, as Abidin and Brown (2018) observes, existing scholarship on internet celebrities is similarly Anglo-centric, English-speaking and focussed on global North platforms. Scholarship on Asian internet celebrities urgently needs to match the region’s crucial role in the global digital economy. Asian internet celebrities such as Li Ziqi (China’s most popular YouTuber with 14 million followers), PONY Syndrome (Korea’s most popular K-beauty YouTuber with 5.8 million followers), and Hajime Syacho (Japan’s most popular YouTuber with 9 million followers) are already globally popular. Li Ziqi’s popularity in the West has triggered heated discussion in Chinese media and academia on Chinese culture ‘going out’. Her success has even impelled the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to recognise the limitations of state-led soft power initiatives and innovative strategies of ‘telling China’s stories well’ (Kim 2020). As the influence of globally recognised Asian internet celebrities is likely harnessed or co-opted by the cultural diplomacy of ‘Cool Japan’, the ‘Korean Wave’ and Chinese culture ‘going out’, it will be timely for Celebrity Studies to attend to how such developments revise or challenge dominant perspectives on the power of celebrity and celebrity culture.

In this issue

The articles in this special issue, Starring Asia: Asian Stardom and Celebrity, emerged from the Starring Asia international conference held in Melbourne, Australia between 2 and 4 December 2019, the first international conference dedicated to Asian stardom and celebrity. Convened together with Professor Sean Redmond (Deakin University), Professor Koichi Iwabuchi (Kwansei Gakuin University) and Dr Shenshen Cai (Swinburne University of Technology), the conference attracted scholars from China, South Korea, Japan, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the UK, US, and Australia to explore the varied ways through which stardom and celebrity materialise in and across Asia. The issue continues with Sabrina Qiong Yu’s study of late Hong Kong superstar Leslie Cheung’s enduring transnational fandom, 17 years after his death. Qiong Yu draws on a combination of in-person, digital and auto-ethnography to address the scarcity of posthumous fandom studies in Asian contexts. She surveys Cheung’s fandom via a fan site in Chengdu, China, the Zhongqing Café, as well as the café’s fan-entrepreneur owner and its passionate fan community, including their social media activities. Qiong Yu’s analysis of this ‘unique cross border cultural phenomenon’ significantly outlines how Cheung’s fan community is sustained and reproduced over time, and how younger Chinese fans depoliticise his complex stardom to build individual and collective identities.

Jian Xu and Ling Yang’s dissection of the CCP’s governance of entertainment celebrities from 2005 to 2020 is a powerful addition in the study of the intertwining of politics and entertainment. Xu and Yang demonstrate how the CCP has utilised four forms of state governance – ‘banning celebrities’; ‘governing through professional associations, laws and notices’; ‘platform governance’; and ‘co-opting stars’ – to discipline entertainment stars and sustain cultural hegemony. Xu and Yang importantly identify the role of ‘governance of celebrity’ and ‘governance through celebrity’ as part of the CCP’s broader cultural governance. In particular, they highlight the formation of a ‘neoliberal subjectivity’ by entertainment celebrities which allows them to manage the double bind of tightening government control and an increasingly competitive entertainment market.

Chrishandra Sebastiampillai’s article delves into the strategic construction and promotion of rising transnational star Henry Golding’s racial identity throughout his fledgling career. Sebastiampillai argues that Golding’s ‘racial ambiguity’, both in terms of his transnational/transcultural background and his Pan-Asian looks, ‘makes him a uniquely versatile star’ in Asia and in the West. Revising the well-worn notion of the American Dream, she argues that Golding exemplifies a sort of ‘Asian Dream’. Western conventions of beauty and notions of cosmopolitanism are highly valued in Southeast Asian media industries, while Golding’s Asian heritage and indigeneity are exoticised in the West. Sebastiampillai finally asks whether Golding can continue to successfully navigate his otherness in both Western and Eastern contexts without succumbing to racial stereotypes.

At the intersections of stardom, celebrity and social advocacy, Dorothy Wai Sim Lau analyses how Asian superstars utilise their celebrity for social works. While Western celebrity humanitarianism has been much discussed, critical examinations of the transnational humanitarianism of Asian stars remain slight. Lau fills this void, using the case of Bollywood star Aamir Khan’s ‘Asian-yet-global persona’ to examine mediatised transnational flows of global celebrity and the rising visibility of humanitarian celebrity in Asia. Also, popular in China, Khan exhibits a new mode of ‘cosmopolitical’ consciousness, ‘to thrive commercially and benevolently in multiple cultural and media networks’. Khan’s humanitarian interests even impact his films, notably dovetailing with his favoured social causes in a Bollywood industry more typically associated with escapism and fantasy.

With the ever-rising popularity of K-pop worldwide, Anna Yates-Lu’s article on the contradictory balance of artistry and celebrity expected of popular Korean traditional music (kugak) performers is an intriguing study of ‘subcultural celebrity’ in South Korea. Kugak performers are typically limited to government support and finding mainstream popularity is difficult. Yates-Lu scrutinises three kugak celebrity-artists to demonstrate, first, the requirement of a specific ‘celebrity moment’ and, second, the subsequent need to invoke persistent ‘celebrity reluctance’. Kugak artist-celebrities must ‘prove their contemporary relevance’, variously using branding, marketability, and multi-platform links to sustain this precarious celebrity. Paradoxically, kugak artist-celebrities must also reaffirm their strong cultural roots in the artform, upholding its traditions and representing its artistry, if they are to retain artistic legitimacy.

Following Wai Sim Lau, Rio Katayama scrutinises Japanese idol-celebrities’ humanitarian performances and subsequent fan activism in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster in 2011. Focusing on J-pop idols, Katayama offers an intriguing examination of celebrity citizenship and affective intimacy in idol-driven activism post-catastrophe, each clouded by parallel commercial imperatives. Although Japanese idol-celebrities are expected to be apolitical, the twinned disasters allowed celebrities to connect with victims and fans more intimately. She observes that ‘idols and celebrities not only solidified their branding and expanded their fan bases but, in some cases, encouraged their fans to act on their behalf’. Katayama concludes that while idol groups such as AKB48 were lauded for their humanitarian works post-disaster, anti-nuclear activism proved more fraught.

In contrast, some Bollywood stars currently lend their celebrity in support of populist politicians and political movements. Sreya Mitra examines discourses surrounding Akshay Kumar’s ‘soft-ball’ interview of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to astutely comment on ‘emerging confluence’ between Indian politics and entertainment. Mitra demonstrates how Bollywood stars’ ‘role in disseminating political rhetoric’ highlights both shifts in discourses of Hindi film stardom and ‘the increasing politicisation of the new media ecology’. Bollywood actors have (un)successfully participated in politics previously, but the rise of social media platforms has created a uniquely reciprocal space for publicity and propaganda. This new symbiotic relationship is not only dependent upon a network of shared followers but also seeks to shape political discourse and distract public attention.

Finally, Sojeong Park and Seok-Kyeong Hong explore the influence of media technologies and practices on Korean beauty norms and the construction of stardom. The fascination with white skin in Asia has a long and complex history, beyond simplistic cultural imperialist arguments. Park and Hong explore how a mibaek aesthetic, a glowing, bright toned ‘televisual skin’ is utilised to deliver romantic narratives and as ‘a vehicle for star-making’. Park and Hong intriguingly identify how media techniques first privilege the mibaek aesthetic before media producers imitate its most popular examples, cumulatively conveying a sense that ‘whiteness’ assures professional and romantic success, especially for women. They finally demonstrate how audience fantasies and desires are accordingly produced, then reproduced by fan communities, and utilised to produce and market trans-Asian celebrity.

Conclusion

Exploring a range of national and transnational contexts, media and transmedia, and historical moments, the special issue underlines the rich interconnectivity of stardom, celebrity and fandom across Asia. The contributions highlight the many meanings of stardom, celebrity and fandom in Asia; how intimately they are wrapped up in questions of representation, identity and desire; and the problems and concerns they provoke as they are utilised in democratic and demotic articulations, and nationalist and transnational discourses. They cogently demonstrate how attention to Asian contexts, practices and perspectives can enhance our understandings of transnational stardom and celebrity; hyphenated star-celebrities; on-screen stardom and off-screen celebrity; celebrity capacity to prompt social change; and celebrity-fan sites. We believe the issue represents an important development, even pivot, in English-language scholarship on celebrity and stardom, supporting calls for greater attention to Asia to truly internationalise Celebrity Studies. It marks not only the multifaceted and diverse relationship between Asian and Western experiences, practices and perspectives, but also Asia’s vital and growing contribution to global celebrity culture more generally. To advance the field and build on its earlier successes, a greater focus on Asia not only offers fertile ground for new research on celebrity cultures but greatly contributes to expanding our Celebrity Studies universe.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jian Xu

Jian Xu is a Senior Lecturer in Communication at Deakin University, Australia. He researches Chinese media and communication with a particular focus on digital media culture and politics. He is the author of Media Events in Web 2.0 China (2016) and co-editor of Chinese Social Media: Social, Cultural and Political Implications (2018).

Glen Donnar

Glen Donnar is a Senior Lecturer in Asian Media & Culture and Approaches to Popular Culture in Media and Communication at RMIT University, Australia. He has published diversely on stardom, popular cultural and screen representations of masculinity in film and television, and the mediation of terror in news media. He is the author of Troubling Masculinities: Terror, Gender, and Monstrous Others in American Film Post-9/11 (2020) and currently writing a monograph on ageing action stars.

Vikrant Kishore

Vikrant Kishore is a Senior Lecturer in Screen and Design at Deakin University, Australia. His areas of research are Indian and Asian Cinemas, intangible cultural heritage, Indian folk and popular culture, factual web-series, and caste politics. He has made more than 20 documentary films, and organised various film festivals and conferences. He is the author of From Real to Reel: Folk Dances of India in Bollywood Cinema (2014) and has co-edited three books on Indian Cinema.