Sara Jahan Hamara: Indian Films and Their Portrayal of Foreign Destinations

Abstract

This article explores the connection of Hindi and Tamil films with outbound tourism from India. Some of the older Hindi and Tamil films portrayed foreign locations and their cultures in quite critical ways. Often protagonists in earlier films would go for a short trip abroad for immediate career-related needs and then return faithfully to their motherland. However, after the 1990s, Indians emerged as a confident globe-trotting people covering the entire planet for their career as well as tourism needs. This changing national trend accordingly found a voice in contemporary films too. Additionally, Indian films are increasingly sought after by dozens of countries from many parts of the world, not just by their respective consumers but also by their respective tourism boards and other agencies, so as to promote inbound tourism by Indians to those countries. Finally, this article concludes with the postmodern analysis of some of the contemporary Hindi films in the 21st century that are transcending spatial and other kinds of barriers in a truly globalized world.

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Notes on contributors

Pankaj Jain

Pankaj Jain is the author of Science and Socio-Religious Revolution in India: Moving the Mountains and Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability (both by Routledge). He is Assoc. Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Texas, and has published articles in numerous journals, including Visual Anthropology. His teaching interests include religion and ecology, Indian films, religions and cultures of India, and the Indian diaspora in the Americas. He had previously taught at North Carolina State University, Rutgers University and elsewhere.