We Asked the Desi Diaspora to Review Bollywood Characters Portraying Desis Abroad

Hollywood has been recognized to stereotype India and its individuals — be it with cheesy accents, overusing the yellow filter so as to add grime to scenes shot out right here, or imagining it as a land of unique mysticism. 

However Bollywood — India’s $2.83 billion Hindi movie trade — can be responsible of portray a clichéd image of the West, and Indians who reside overseas. 

For many years, non-resident Indians (NRIs) have both been portrayed as caricatures, villains, or sexually unfastened and morally bankrupt desis who had misplaced contact with their roots. Whereas their melancholic eager for the land their ancestors lived in or their cultural jingoism may’ve labored with audiences in India, how does the desi diaspora — the biggest on the earth — discover its personal illustration in Bollywood? We requested them.

Tina from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
The plot: After studying the letter her mom Tina (Rani Mukerji) had written for her earlier than she died, Anjali (Sana Saeed) decides to convey collectively her widowed father, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan), along with his real love who can be named Anjali (Kajol).

“So many NRI characters go to Oxbridge, the best way Tina did. However as somebody who lives right here, and was rejected by Oxbridge, I’ve to say that not all of us find yourself in probably the most prestigious universities, and it needs to be okay to point out that facet too. With Tina’s character, I might barely inform she’s an NRI. I can’t recall her speaking about any influences from the UK. The factor that angers me about her character is that she has to show her Indianness to random boys in faculty. I’d be fuming if anybody dared to query whether or not I’m ‘Indian’ sufficient — as if there’s even a strict definition of it. As a substitute of difficult Rahul when he questions her Indianness, Tina simply belts out… a nationwide anthem kind music? Very unusual behaviour. The binary depiction of Indian pretty much as good and Western as dangerous is such a drained trope in Bollywood.” – Richa Kapoor, 21, a British-Indian from London, UK

Virtually everybody from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
The plot: Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) and Simran (Kajol) meet throughout a visit throughout Europe and the 2 fall in love. Nevertheless, when Raj learns that Simran is already promised to another person, he follows her to India to win her and her father over.

“My father is a survivor of partition and my mom, a daughter of an indentured labourer who travelled to Fiji from India 100 years in the past. Bollywood is the golden thread that has linked us all, throughout oceans and continents. Within the mid Nineties, we in London jumped with pleasure when Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge launched in theatres right here. To depict Indian households rising up in one other a part of the world, the movie portrayed an correct instance, on the time, of the values, the wishes, and the complexities of that delicate steadiness between two cultures. Immediately although, whereas issues have progressed, Indian characters I do know from the broader diaspora by no means fairly make it to the display. 

I’m glad to see extra movies the place NRIs are depicted as extra than simply two dimensional characters — a richness, dynamism, and extra importantly, a vulnerability of common narratives are starting to emerge.” – Ajay Chhabra, 50, an Indian-Fijian in London, UK

Pinky Shah from The White Tiger
The plot: Balram (Adarsh Gourav), a driver from a decrease caste, works at a politically highly effective household’s family the place he makes use of his wit to plot his approach to the highest.

“Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ character within the film, ‘Pinky Madam’, is an advanced one. However for anybody who’s a first- or second-generation immigrant from India, everyone knows a Pinky. She comes from a household who has labored their approach as much as success within the U.S., and he or she earnings off their onerous work. Bringing her idealism again together with her to India, she picks holes in a system that works in her favour.  

However regardless of all of her speak of equality and training, when it comes all the way down to taking duty for her actions (warning: spoiler forward) she flounders as we see within the hit-and-run scene the place she kills a baby. The movie, and the e book it’s primarily based on, encapsulate the fact of coming again residence and turning a blind eye to issues that do not please you. It is a uncooked interpretation of a sense many people expertise, however Chopra Jonas successfully breaks the attract of the diaspora. Pinky’s disconnect to the fact of life in India and Balram is eye-opening in a approach that appears fully correct.” – Jaysim Hanspal, 23, a British-Indian from London, UK

Jasmeet/Jazz from Namastey London
The plot: A person takes his British-Indian daughter Jasmeet AKA Jazz (Katrina Kaif) to his residence nation, India. There, he arranges her marriage to Arjun (Akshay Kumar) who doesn’t communicate English. Jasmeet makes an attempt to outwit them, however Arjun quietly and patiently hatches his personal plan.

“I don’t like how Jasmeet/Jazz was portrayed. The movie makes it appear to be Indian-origins of us are dangerous for selecting their western identification. However the fact is, dwelling with twin heritage just isn’t as simple or handy as Bollywood showcases. Jazz realises her Indian values, or sanskaar as they are saying in India, on the finish of the movie. She then goes again to calling herself Jasmeet and strikes to India. That’s so unrealistic. If a person got here as much as me and requested me to maneuver to a unique nation with him, I wouldn’t simply agree in a heartbeat. Bollywood movies additionally unfairly presents western affect in a unidimensional approach via risqué trend, events, plenty of medicine and intercourse. Lastly, Bollywood wants to know that not all NRIs are light-skinned and wealthy.” – Maansi Kalyan, 26, a British-Indian from London, UK

“What the movie received proper was that the merging of two identities can manifest into dwelling a double life for some NRIs. We see that via Imran, a British Pakistani who makes an attempt to cover his consuming, and his English girlfriend Susan. Right here, he’s participating in issues which are forbidden by faith and by his father. I feel Bollywood tends to show racism in its most excessive type — the place it’s outlandish and direct. Right here, Jasmeet’s British fiancé’s dad actually quotes Winston Churchill and refers to Indians as ‘snake charmers.’ Imran is requested for a certificates to show he’s not related to terrorists. To not say these items might by no means occur, however in my very own expertise, racism and prejudice, notably within the UK, is much more delicate and often communicated via micro aggressions.” – Anas Information, 22, a British-Indian from Bradford, UK

Mohan Bhargav from Swades
The plot: Mohan Bhargav (Shah Rukh Khan), a profitable Indian-American scientist at NASA returns to an Indian village to take his childhood nanny to the U.S. to reside with him, and within the course of, rediscovers his roots.

“Swades is hailed as a movie which captures the essence of craving on your homeland. There are lengthy montages of Shah Rukh struggling to seek out enjoyment or fulfilment in his life as an engineer at NASA. Whereas this type of black-and-white division between the East and the West could make for a feel-good cinematic narrative, it doesn’t mirror the nuances, challenges and joys of immigration. A extra lifelike depiction would have included the primary character setting roots in his new residence and struggling to navigate his identification. However realism just isn’t what Bollywood is thought for; it’s recognized for its means to evoke feelings and Swades definitely does that.” – Ghazal Abbasi, 23, a British-Pakistani from Yorkshire, UK

Meera and Veronica from Cocktail
The plot: Veronica (Deepika Padukone) turns into associates with Meera (Diana Penty) after which Gautam (Saif Ali Khan), and finally each transfer into Veronica’s condominium. The whole lot goes nice till love, relationships and intercourse complicate issues.

“I feel Meera’s character illustration was fairly constructive in Cocktail. The journey of Meera going to the UK was a journey of self-sufficiency. It wasn’t her marriage, however the brand new setting that allowed her an area to discover herself. She was additional empowered by Veronica, one other NRI, and as she settled into her new life within the UK and have become extra unbiased. With Veronica, there was a bias in direction of the truth that she lived a chaotic life and it comes off as she wasn’t Indian sufficient. Nevertheless, I feel the larger clarification for her behaviour and decisions was her lack of relationship together with her mother and father.” – Fatima Zehra, 23, a British-Pakistani from London, UK

Rizwan Khan from My Title is Khan
The plot: Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), an Indian Muslim man, strikes to America to reside along with his brother (Jimmy Shergill) and marries Mandira (Kajol) who has a son from a earlier marriage. Rizwan additionally has Asperger’s and is arrested mistakenly in connection to the 9/11 assaults.

“My Title is Khan wasn’t solely true for Indians, however to anyone who was brown, Arab or has a Muslim-sounding title. Submit 9/11, Islamophobia grew to become worse. There are numerous accounts of white individuals having been blatantly racist in direction of Sikhs as a result of they could not inform the distinction between a dastar which Sikhs put on, and a cranium cap worn by Muslims. 

On this side, the film exhibits an correct portrayal, though killings within the title of the identical just isn’t one thing I am conversant in. Therefore, whereas the stereotype stems from a fraction of the fact confronted by NRIs within the U.S., I do really feel that the stereotype was pushed additional with the president himself addressing Khan as not a terrorist. However on the finish of the day, it’s a film and dramatising the identical is what makes it a profitable one, so I perceive the place it comes from. 

There are inaccuracies too, after all. Like riling up a mob in a mosque, or screaming that you just’re Gujarati and to not be mistaken for an Arab or Muslim, may be very dramatised and exaggerated. From what I am conscious, the NRIs and different overseas communities have this bond from the shared historical past of innocents being persecuted.” – Mohaseb Noushad, 24, an Indian from Dubai, UAE

Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
The plot: Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan), the adopted son of enterprise magnate Yash Raichand (Amitabh Bachchan) leaves the household after his father forbids him from marrying Anjali (Kajol), who comes from a working-class household. He strikes to London along with his spouse and sister-in-law, Pooja/Poo (Kareena Kapoor Khan). A decade later, Rahul’s youthful brother (Hrithik Roshan) involves London hoping to reunite his household.

“This movie undoubtedly romanticises Indians dwelling overseas. It makes it appear to be it’s the best factor on the earth emigrate to the UK and reside your finest life. In actuality, if you happen to take over your college’s annual day and carry out the Indian nationwide anthem amongst a majorly white viewers, you are extra more likely to be judged or shut down than applauded. The character of Pooja/Poo is not that far faraway from actuality, though it’s undoubtedly excessive. Whitewashed desis who grew up overseas aren’t onerous to come back by, though it isn’t at all times crucial that they are going to solely hand around in cliques of fellow desis. 

When it comes to the ethical connotation of being Indian, I feel they do painting either side nicely within the movie primarily based on how Khan’s character chides Poo for her trend decisions whereas the ladies in the home let her be who she needs to be. 

On the identical time, it is a bit annoying how Poo does an entire 360 when she falls for Rohan, after which goes to India to be the best bahu (daughter-in-law) or no matter. Nobody can tone down their full persona that quick, and it is giving off the message that you have to be sati-savitri (loosely translated to morally pure and coy) to be with an Indian man from a so-called good family. – Snigdha Bansal, 23, an Indian from Amsterdam, Netherlands

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