Revisiting the NRI ‘genre’: Indian diasporic engagements with NRI and multiplex films

Abstract

As a nodal point in the global presence of Indian cinema, films about Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) have become a cherished object of textual analysis. Research on this topic has challenged diasporic representations in the NRI ‘genre’, but at the same time has linked them up with actual diasporas. Based on the results of an audience study conducted through in-depth interviews, this article critically reviews the consumption of NRI films by diasporic audiences. The responses of diasporic Indians to such films in Antwerp (Belgium) revealed that this audience related neither to the implied diasporic spectator nor to the actual audience nor to the diasporic representations in these films in a straightforward way. Therefore, the article equally assesses the diasporic Indian consumption of ‘multiplex films’ and the preference for realism related to the latter.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank my supervisors Philippe Meers, Roel Vande Winkel and Sofie Van Bauwel as well as my colleague Kevin Smets for their insightful comments and support.

Notes

 1. The Indian government makes a distinction between Persons of Indian Origin or PIOs (people of Indian origin up to four generations holding a foreign passport) and Non-Resident Indians or NRIs (people with an Indian passport living abroad). However, in common parlance and in cinematic representations the term NRI is often used interchangeably with the diaspora as a whole. The NRI ‘genre’ includes those films which are centred on one or more diasporic Indian characters/themes (hence films with an NRI side character do not count as such), often located simultaneously in an Indian and diasporic setting. This cinema is not to be confused with films produced by the diaspora.

 2. This has equally resulted in textual analyses of films produced by the Indian diaspora (e.g. Desai 2004).

 3. I entered the diamond community through my Bengali roommate, while contacts in the IT sector were forged through a colleague, who had done research in the same community. Teachers of integration courses, personal acquaintances as well as our cinema survey were other sources for respondents. Manoj became a good friend during an integration project in which I was enrolled and Rahul is one of our students. For details on these respondents, see Table 1.

 4. Cinema and Diaspora. A comparative study into ethnic film cultures in Antwerp: Indian, Northern African, Turkish and Jewish cinema, University of Antwerp/Ghent University, FWO-BOF UA, 2008–2012. Supervisors: Philippe Meers, Roel Vande Winkel and Sofie Van Bauwel. Researchers: Kevin Smets and Iris Vandevelde.

 5. Numbers include naturalized migrants, as well as second and third generations. Stad Antwerpen, Districts-en loketwerking 2007–2011, modifications by Stad Antwerpen, Studiedienst Stadsobservatie, personal e-mail conversation. With the term ‘Indians’ I refer to PIOs as well as NRIs, who are both present among the Antwerp Indian communities.

 6. People came mainly from Gujarat (seven persons), but also from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Bihar.

 7. This links up with psychoanalytic theories on spectator identification developed since the 1970s by Christian Metz, Laura Mulvey and other theorists. However, the research this article is based upon is grounded in cultural studies, focusing more on ‘individuals’ differences, usually premised as socially constructed through economic, cultural, or social positioning' (Staiger 2005, 75).

 8. An explicit question about representation of NRI films was included in the topic list used during the interviews, but several people came up with the topic spontaneously.

 9. Dwyer notes that even ‘[t]he major critics disagree’ and use different and vague definitions (2011, 204, note 11). Recent literature on Indian cinema speaks of ‘multiplex films’ (Dwyer 2011; Ganti 2012; Gopal 2012, 125), ‘crossover films’ (Ganti 2012, 117) or ‘hatke films’ (Dwyer 2011; Gopal 2012, 125), more or less referring to the same kind of cinema.

10. Of course, NRI films can be comedies too. Some recent examples (e.g. My Name is Khan, Cocktail) can be considered as multiplex films in the sense that they are mainly targeted at multiplex audiences, but not as regards their style or content.