Hindutva boycott of Hindi cinema

"Urduwood" redirects here. For Bollywood as a whole, see Hindi cinema. For the Pakistani Urdu-language film industry, see Cinema of Pakistan.

Several boycotts have been started against Hindi films by Hindu nationalists in recent years, with the term Urduwood being used to characterise the Hindi-language Bollywood film industry as a Muslim-dominated, anti-Hindu industry which favours the use of Urdu over Hindi.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

History

Bollywood has historically had many Muslims involved in the production of its movies, with some of the most popular film stars being Muslim, especially the Khans of Bollywood and many of the lyricists and songwriters infusing Urdu into the scripts;^[7][8] Urdu, which is heavily influenced by Middle Eastern languages such as Persian and Arabic, is generally associated with South Asian Muslims.^[9]

Names

Along with Urduwood, related terms that are used are Khanwood (referring to the dominance in Bollywood of actors with the common South Asian Muslim last name Khan), Jihadwood, and Dawood-wood.^[2][10][5]

Boycotts

Accusations of Bollywood films hurting Hindu sentiments have led to calls for boycotts against several major films in recent years under the hashtag #BoycottBollywood;^[11][12][13] Bollywood producers have said that the threat of boycotts has led them to avoid certain topics in their films.^[14] In addition, there have been more recent films which are nationalistic or pro-Hindu.^[15] However, some films have been able to succeed regardless of the boycotts,^[16] and there seems to have been an overall limited impact on boycotted movies' revenues.^[13]

Some boycotters have called for South Indian cinema to be promoted instead, claiming that it was more respectful in representing Hindu culture,^{[17][1][18][19]} however some South Indian films were also boycotted by them.^[20][21]

See also

Events

• 2020 Bengaluru drug raids, controversy in Kannada cinema
• Death of Sushant Singh Rajput, controversial 2020 suicide of a Bollywood actor which increased the boycotts
• "Besharam Rang", 2023 Bollywood song involved in boycott controversy

Film topics

• List of films banned in India
• Muslim social, an early Bollywood film genre
• Puranic, an Indian film genre

Religious and linguistic topics

• Sanskritisation (language), a linguistic change favoured by Hindu nationalists
• Hindi–Urdu controversy

References

1. Raj, Kaushik; Gurmat, Sabah (30 September 2022). "Bollywood under siege as rightwing social media boycotts start to bite". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
2. "Why right wing hates Bollywood". The Week. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
3. "Hindutva Protesters Stop Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor From Entering MP Temple". The Wire. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
4. decine21.com (4 October 2022). "Bollywood pasa a ser conocido como Urduwood - decine21.com". Decine21 (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
5. "Is the Hindu Nationalist 'Boycott Bollywood' Campaign Impacting the Box Office?". thediplomat.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
6. "Dissecting the language of Baahubali trolls: 'Hindu film', 'Urduwood', 'Chrislamist critic'". Firstpost. 5 May 2017. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
7. Subramanian, Samanth (10 October 2022). "When the Hindu Right Came for Bollywood". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
8. "Bollywood Is a Major Target for Right Wing Groups Looking for Signs of 'Hinduphobia'". The Wire. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
9. "The siege of Bollywood". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
10. "The Bollywood saga: Social media ruining the relation". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
11. Mallick, Kritika, Abhilash (7 October 2022). "The Booming 'Boycott Bollywood' Trend: Who Are the Players Behind It?". TheQuint. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
12. "Decoding the #BoycottBollywood trend". cnbctv18.com. 6 January 2023. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
13. P, Jinoy Jose (22 September 2022). "Something is rotten: Understanding the Bollywood boycott phenomenon". Frontline. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
14. Goyal, Prateek (28 December 2022). "Why 2022 was the year of #BoycottBollywood". Newslaundry. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
15. "How Bollywood's silence proved convenient for India's Right Wing". South Asian Today. Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
16. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (4 February 2023). "Pathaan and the king of cinema blast Bollywood out of the doldrums". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
17. Manga, Dhiren (13 December 2022). "Will #BoycottPathaan impact SRK's film?". DESIblitz. Archived from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
18. "Explained: The #BoycottBollywood trend, and its impact on the industry". The Indian Express. 27 August 2022. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
19. "Bollywood's problem is not boycotts, it is the quality. Or lack of it". WION. 3 September 2022. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
20. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (12 January 2024). "Netflix pulls Indian film after backlash from rightwing Hindu groups". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
21. "Adipurush row: Mob protests at mall in Maha's Palghar, asks people to boycott screening". The Indian Express. 19 June 2023. Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved 26 January 2024.