Monika Mehta

Lecture Abstract:

I theorize how the politics of scale, an undertheorized aspect of media regulation, shape discourses of censorship. Combining insights of geography as well as film and media studies, I point to how an interplay of multiple scales – geopolitical (regional, national, and global); film production (star vs. obscure actor; commercial vs. indie film); film distribution (theatrical vs. streaming); film reception (digital news, social media, and television); and linguistic reach (Hindi vs. Tamil) – generates and disrupts Hindu populists deployment of censorship.

I enter this discussion through an analysis of the debates about Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food. When this film was first released in Indian theatres in late 2023, it didn’t cause much of a stir. Featuring the well-known Tamil star Nayanthara, the film tells the story of a young woman who dreams of becoming a chef but is stymied by her vegetarian, Brahmin upbringing. The regional film certification board in Chennai, tasked with ensuring that ‘visuals or words contemptuous of racial, religious or other groups are not presented’ (Central Board of Film Certification), did not ask for any cuts to the film and placed no restrictions on its public exhibition. Annapoorani had lackluster performance at the box-office and soon moved to Netflix, where it was dubbed and subtitled for non-Tamil-speaking audiences in India and abroad. Within days, Hindu populists flocked to social media to accuse both Netflix and Nayanthara of endorsing anti-Hindu rhetoric, claiming the film hurt Hindu sentiments and promoted “love jihad,” in which ‘scheming’ Muslim men seduce ‘helpless Hindu’ women. Their vociferous attacks, tacitly backed by the Hindu nationalist government, proved effective, and Netflix removed the film.

The power of Hindu nationalism fueled by Hindu populists on social media appears to be hegemonic, but a scalar analysis, namely a turn to the region, points to fissures. Hindu populism’s failure to capture the regional imagination is visible in Annapoorani’s certification in Chennai and its transnational theatrical release. This regional indifference to the Hindu vs. Muslim mantra demonstrates that the political parties in Chennai, which influence the censorship board, do not follow the beat of the Hindu nationalist government in Delhi. It also begs the question, how is Hinduism articulated in the political and cinematic imaginaries of Tamil Nadu? By turning to the regional, I uncover new dimensions of censorship which reveal apprehensions about representations of caste. Building on Ernesto Laclau in On Populist Reason, these apprehensions problematize the ability of Hinduism to function as a particular sign through which a chain of equivalence can connect and represent multiple democratic demands. A caste ridden-Hinduism cannot be that sign because it is in fact one of the many problems.

Workshop Abstract:

In this workshop, we will discuss how network(s) as method and framework assists in re-conceptualizing film historiography, archival research as well as formal analyses.   We will explore how this approach spotlights connections and traffic among film industries, complicating scalar analyses of cinemas (local, national, regional, global).

Biography:

Monika Mehta’s research and teaching interests include new media and film studies; cinema in South Asia; theories of nation-state; feminist studies; postcolonial critique; and globalization and cultural production. She is the author of Censorship and Sexuality in Bombay Cinema (University of Texas Press, December 2011; Permanent Black, January 2012). Her articles and chapters examining trans/national film regulation; globalization and cultural production in India; DVD compilations; music awards; cinephilia; and authorship have appeared in journals such as Cultural Dynamics, The Velvet Light Trap, Studies in South Asian Film and Media, South Asian Popular Culture as well as edited collections such as Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance, Music in Contemporary Indian Film: Memory, Voice, Identity, Behind the Scenes: Contemporary Bollywood Directors and their Cinema, and Postcolonial Studies Meets Media Studies. Her co-edited collection, Pop Empires:Transnational and Diasporic Flows of Korea and India (University of Hawaii Press) is forthcoming.

More information please check out Mehta’s website.