The Expatriate Indian

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) and Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham (2005) were movies that highlighted a very interesting phenomenon; the expatriate Indian. A more colloquially used term would be the NRI (non- resident Indian). Featuring the protagonists as NRIs wasn’t common until the early 1990’s. Before that the NRIs were shown as antagonists with bad morals and poor ethics. It was definitely a big change in Hindi cinema when this new representation took place.

All along throughout the 1960’s 1970’s and 1980’s Hindi cinema handled issues on the progress of the nation. It touched upon topics of citizenship and the economic growth of India. It showed how Indians were trying their best to come out of the previous years of British oppression. As the 1990’s began, there was an introduction of a new string of movies, showing individualism. These weren't about the growth of the nation, but were about the flaws in the nation, people’s search for better lifestyles and better employment. These desires provoked them into escaping to foreign countries like Britain andthe United States.

Themes based on globalization in Hindi cinema have been happening throughout the decades. During the 1960s and 1970s period of Hindi cinema, movies were more nationalistic, as Indian politics was going through a period of isolationism. The 1990s was when the nation opened up to international investments. Its economic dependence on the diaspora started to slowly increase. There was a string of big budget films in Bollywood that were also known as the “KJo” films. They consisted of some of Bollywood’s biggest stars, had lavish sets, big houses and expensive cars. Examples of such movies were Diwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) and Kabhie Khushi Khabie Gh...

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...nymore, directors feel more comfortable discussing issues of religion, gender and sexuality in NRI centric movies rather than the movies shown to be based in India.

This brings me to my last point about how globalization in India is affecting the Bollywood. It’s focusing on it market audience and is mainly targeting the Indian Diaspora. The new ‘patriarch figure”, the new romance and the acceptance of the expatriate Indian, are all happenings which we can directly link to the economic liberalization that has taken place in India today. Just as the NRI investments become more important to the Indian government; the NRI stories take the forefront in Hindi cinema as well.

I conclude by saying that this new trend of focusing on the Indian Diaspora will be a huge part of Bollywood as the entire Indian nation continues through this era of culturally globalization.