Re/presenting Afghans in Hindi cinema: the popular geopolitics of India-Afghanistan relations

ABSTRACT

I analyse two Hindi movies shot in Afghanistan - Khuda Gawah (1992) and Kabul Express (2006) - to demonstrate the salience of Hindi cinema as a site where Indian foreign policies are re/presented (presented and re-presented). Accordingly, I have identified two tropes. The first trope, signifying presentation, relates to an ethnic synecdoche in which Afghans are equated with Pathans. The second trope, demonstrating re-presentation, illustrates a deviation vis-à-vis the Indian foreign policies on Afghanistan by way of inserting the enemy Taliban into the moral universe of the cinematic Self. I also discuss select aesthetics of Hindi cinema to show how they can further add to the study of critical geopolitics.

KEYWORDS:

• Hindi cinema
• Afghanistan
• popular geopolitics
• India

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Professor James D. Sidaway and A/P Chih Yuan Woon for their support and help in the refining of my manuscript. I would also like to thank the editor of S&P, Prof Mark Boyle and the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions that have made the article even better.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 The other commercial, mainstream Hindi movies shot in Afghanistan are: Dharmatma (1975), Janasheen (2003) and Torbaaz (2020). The former two movies were not included in the paper for their incidental allusion to Afghans/Afghanistan within respective narratives. The last movie, while being a mainstream and commercial Hindi movie, was released on an OTT platform and did not have a theatrical release. On balance, the movies selected for the paper were similar across critical variables, including that they (1) had theatrical release (2) were commercial and mainstream, (3) were shot in Afghanistan, and (4) Afghans/Afghanistan were central to their respective storylines.

2 An ethno-linguistic group native to Central and South Asia.

3 The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/ktQOLO4U5iQ

4 The other commercial, mainstream Hindi films that revolved around Afghans/Afghanistan are: Kabuliwala (1961); Bioscopewala (2017); Padmaavat (2018); Kesari (2019); Panipat (2019). None of them were shot in Afghanistan, hence, excluded from the analysis.

5 A cluster of caste-based communities tracing their origins to North-West India.

6 A coalition of Afghan mujahedeen led by Ahmad Shah Massoud that fought against Taliban between 1996 and 2001.

7 The distinction between ‘good Taliban/bad Taliban’ was a diplomatic gambit played by the international stakeholders in Afghanistan to (1) foster differences within the Taliban and (2) get a segment of the insurgent group to concede to the demand of peace. India was opposed to such categorisations, but its views were dismissed. For more information, see: https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/the-good-the-bad-and-the-nationalist-taliban-are-we-seeing-a-change-in-indias-stance/

8 An Air India flight bound for Delhi from Kathmandu (Nepal) was hijacked on 24 December 1999. It was flown to Amritsar (India), Lahore (Pakistan) and Dubai (UAE) before landing in Taliban-controlled Kandahar, where it was subsequently cordoned off by Taliban, ostensibly, to prevent Indian military action.

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Chayanika Saxena

Chayanika Saxena's a President's Graduate Fellow and a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore.