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Priyanka Chopra Jonas - Transnational Indian Identity

       Priyanka Chopra Jonas is a globally-recognized actress, singer, and philanthropist. Born in Jharkhand, India, she moved around India due to her parents' positions in the Indian army and spent 3 years in the United States in her early teens. Within a few years of returning back home to India, Chopra competed in beauty pageants and was crowned Miss World. This achievement led to her entrance into the Bollywood film industry where she found fame with her early films like Fashion and Don (where she starred alongside one of the most famous actors in the world, Shah Rukh Khan). Through her rising success, Priyanka returned to the US and became the first South Asian to headline an American network drama with her role in the highly popular ABC series Quantico, where she played a rookie FBI agent. She balanced her TV schedule while filming Bollywood films like Jai Gangaajal and Hollywood films like the revival of Baywatch. Shortly after premiering on Quantico, Chopra caught the eye of popstar Nick Jonas and just over 2 years after their first interaction, the couple tied the knot in Jodhpur, India at the Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace in two ceremonies - a traditional Christian ceremony followed by a traditional Hindu ceremony. 

       The dual-ceremony format of their wedding alone suggests that though Priyanka has ties to America and Western culture, she has not lost her Indian roots, affording her with a transnational sense of identity. With 46.9 million followers, her Instagram showcases a constant flow of both Indian and American culture, as she celebrates Indian holidays and dons traditional Indian garb and also partners with the NBA and parties with her Jonas sister-in-laws. Priyanka splits her time between India and the States, and though she has often played the role of a non-resident Indian throughout her film career, her personal life has led to a more complex example of what it means to be Indian in an increasingly global world. Chopra remains dedicated to her heritage - teaching her husband about her culture and religion:

and spending time with her family as she films, promotes, and tours:

       These factors contradict the anxiety that global Indians are losing their ‘Indian’ values to become Westernized and rich. As global studies professor Fazal Rizvi (2012) notes, “the hybridity and the globalization of both Bollywood and Hollywood are likely to generate in the future closer links and collaborations across the two mega cultural industries.” Actresses like Priyanka Chopra Jonas are minimizing the gap between Bollywood and Hollywood, joining the East and the West. She exemplifies a successful Indian woman to both the Western and Indian worlds, initiating the West to Indian culture with her acting acumen, likeable personality, connections to the West, while showing that staying true to one’s Indian heritage when venturing out of India is possible in the globalized world of today.

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According to the Migration Policy Institute, Indians are one of the largest growing immigrant groups in the United States, second only to Mexicans (Zong and Batalova, 2017). While immigrants may leave behind their country, their culture is taken with them. They are able to connect with life back home through several aspects such as music, movies, and food. For Indians, having access to movies from back home allows them to stay in touch with their culture and have something that is relatable. Watching a movie with familiar actors in one’s native tongue provides a source of nostalgic entertainment. Common themes of Indian traditions and love coupled with catchy songs allow for an enjoyable experience for the entire family and allows immigrant parents to share some of their culture with their children. This demand for Indian films in the United States has not gone unnoticed. In fact, Indian films are shown in mainstream US theaters on a regular schedule, with some films grossing millions of dollars from these theaters. The showings are not limited to Hindi films, but also regional Indian films in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. For example, the blockbuster movie Baahubali, a film in Telugu, grossed $13 million within a week in North America (Cain, 2017). Streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have massive collections of Indians films in several languages as well, adding to the accessibility of content to a wider audience at a competitive price. 

This access to Indian content all over the world relates to one of Thomas Friedman’s 10 flatteners, ‘the Steroids’, referring to the relative ease of sharing content through digitization and WiFi (Friedman, 2005). Before the popularity of streaming platforms, Indian films were shown primarily on DVDs, which need to be exported and then sold locally. This leads to great cost for both distributor and consumer. However, with streaming platforms, the amount of exports have lowered, as film production companies are more focused on the money they receive from distribution rights, and consumers are able to enjoy a wide number of Indian films on a common platform at a much lower price. 

This is also relevant to another flattener, ‘supply-chaining’ (Friedman, 2005). Different companies work together to make this content accessible to the user, such as the production company, the streaming company, and the record label. For example, the film Baahubali is produced by the Indian production company Arka Media Works, distributed by Arka Media Works, streamed on the American company Netflix, and the music rights are owned by the Indian record label Lahari Music. Each company is responsible for a specific role in the process, similar to how a supermarket may work. 

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The British film Bend It Like Beckham, directed by Gurinder Chadha, focuses on a British born Indian girl, Jesminder “Jess” Bhamra, and her Sikh immigrant family in the United Kingdom. Jess loves to play soccer, but her traditional family is not supportive due to the fact that she is a woman and thus should be learning how to be a wife and mother, as this is what would be expected of her if she was living in India. The audience is shown glimpses of the Indian culture being maintained while the family is living in the UK, such as traditional Indian outfits, dancing, music, and food, especially during the festivities for Jess’s sister’s wedding. Sikhism is also prominent, as Jess’s father wears a turban and religious imagery is present in her house. The film also tackles the topics of racism and xenophobia, as her father mentions that he is worried about how others may treat his daughter in the soccer world, as he was rejected from joining a cricket club due to the fact that he is Indian. In the end, Jess is finally allowed to accept a scholarship to play soccer at an American university, as her parents loosen the rigidity of their expectations, merging Indian and Western societal expectations of education and being able to choose a career on one’s own.

This film is an excellent example of cultural hybridity, as Jess and her family merge elements of British and Indian culture to create their own version that works for them (Ryoo, 2009). Jess manages the more traditional Indian expectations of marrying a suitable boy and being a wife that looks feminine, cooks, and cleans, while also trying to embrace the more Western ideals of following her dreams, whatever they may be. The film features the popular Indian actor Anupam Kher, who is famous for his roles in famous Hindi films focusing on young love and societal expectations, adding to the hybridity of the film, as he is an Indian actor in a British produced film. It is also important to focus on the fact that Jess is played by Parminder Nagra, who was raised in England and is the daughter of Sikh immigrants, just like her character. In addition, the director, Gurinder Chadha, was born into a Sikh family of the Indian diaspora in British controlled Kenya and then moved to West London at the age of two, somewhat similar to Jess. This allowed both Nagra and Chadha to use their own relevant personal experiences in the film to create a more relatable film to the target audience. Thus, this film is particularly relevant to the Indian diaspora in the Western world, particularly the children of immigrants, and the concept of being able to be Indian outside of India while also adhering to Western societal ideals.

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My Name is Khan traveled transnationally only two days after its premier in Abu Dhabi. The film was shown globally in cinemas and even made its way to be screened in the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. Additionally, the film was named the highest-grossing Indian film overseas at the time of its release. It immediately became very well-known and well-liked all around the world. The films rapid and widespread popularity is partially due to the main actor of the film being Shah Rukh Khan, a very popular Indian actor who is known as the “King of Bollywood”. In fact, at the time of the films release more people worldwide watched Shah Rukh Khan in films than they watched Meryl Streep or Brad Pitt (NPR Podcast, 2010). This speaks greatly to the immediate global appreciation and liking of My Name is Khan.

My Name is Khan is a Bollywood drama film directed by Indian film producer Karan Johar. This film was named the most expensive Bollywood film in 2010 due to the buying of the film by Fox Star Entertainment. The film is about a Muslim child with Asberger’s Syndrome named Rizwan Khan who grew up in Mumbai but eventually moves to San Fransisco to live with his brother after their mothers death. In San Francisco, Rizwan Khan meets his wife, a Hindu woman, Mandira, whom he eventually marries and adopts her young son, Sameer. The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City disrupts their family due to Sameer being killed in a school brawl solely because his last name was Khan, making him Muslim and therefore people assuming that he is a terrorist. As a result, Khan goes on a mission on behalf of his wife to find the US President and tell him that his name is Khan and that he is not a terrorist. 

This film does a great job of showing that cultural identity does not necessarily need to be tied to location. Although the majority of the film takes place in America, this does not stop Rizwan from staying true to his roots of being Muslim. This film takes place during the tragic events of September 11th in New York City, which was a time when many people exhibited a strong hatred towards the Muslim community. Khan was aware of this, especially after Sameer’s attack and death in a school fight, but it did not stop him from remaining true to his roots and defying odds by outwardly stating that he is a Muslim man who is not a terrorist. Even after Khan was arrested due to people misinterpreting his statement and thinking that he in fact was a terrorist, he never doubted his culture and where he came from. 

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Svetha Yellapragada Rao, better known by her stage name Raja Kumari, is an Indian-American singer, songwriter, and rapper who is making strides in both the American and Indian music scenes. She is an example of a transnational artist who crosses boundaries with her work through her cultural take on music. Growing up in the diaspora, her parents made sure she was aware of her roots, surrounding her life with all things Indian. She was taught 3 different classical Indian dances at a young age and was touring India to perform by the age of eight. 

Kumari has always embraced her culture and felt a strong connection to India. However, growing up in America, it was a struggle for her to balance both her identities, but she found an outlet through her music. Her music is largely hybrid, bridging together elements of the East and the West (Ryoo, 2009). The majority of her songs incorporate numerous different musical styles, including hip hop, reggae, and classical Indian rhythms. Her music videos have both Western and Indian aesthetics, particularly in her fashion, where she incorporates Desi pieces with Western attire. A good example of this would be her debut single “City Slums, where she collaborated with the Indian hip-hop icon, Divine, to create a piece that effortlessly blended bits and pieces of both the East and the West. With an Indian aesthetic, Raja Kumari incorporates both English and Hindi in the song with a variety of genres. The song and music video capture life on the streets of Mumbai and is an ode to her roots. The lyrics “I am the American Dream, phir bhi dil mein Hindustani (but I’m still Indian at heart)” encapsulates what she is trying to translate through her art. She has also worked with prominent Western and Indian artists, writing songs and collaborating with artists like Gwen Stefani, Fall Out Boys, and Iggy Azalea. “Change Your Life,” a song she wrote for Iggy Azalea, even earned her a Grammy nomination and put her on a global spectrum. Raja Kumari has sung and rapped numerous OSTs for prominent Bollywood films, such as Zero, where Shah Rukh Khan personally scouted her to rap in the song “Husn Parcham.”  She will also be the first Indian to host the 2019 Music Awards, making large strides for Indian artists to make it on a global scale. 

Raja Kumari showcases how cultural identity is no longer tied to location. She is able to be an Indian and stay close to her roots without living in India. Through her work, she brings a little of India to the West and broadens the spectrum for more underrepresented artists to make a name for themselves in the Western music scene. Her goal is to bring more Indian representation to the West, particularly in the music scene, so more children growing up in the diaspora will be able to find figures in the media that look like them and bring them closer to their culture (Fiske, 1993).

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Slumdog Millionaire, a movie inspired by the novel Q&A written by Indian author Vikas Swarp, has made global strides immediately after its release in 2008. The movie is about Jamal Malik, an 18 year old Indian Muslim boy from the slums of Mumbai who participated in the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a popular show around the globe. Skeptical about his success on the show, he is detained, beaten, and accused of cheating by the police. However, he combats their accusations by recalling moments of his life that helped him answer each question correctly. 

Slumdog Millionaire is a product of cultural hybridity by blending both geographical and cultural elements around the world to produce this one film (Ryoo, 2009). It has the Bollywood aesthetics by being filmed in India with a largely Indian cast and crew. Anil Kapoor, a widely popular veteran Bollywood actor, plays the host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, helping the movie with its global reach. The film also incorporates some themes common to Bollywood films, like love conquers all. On the other hand, the dialogue is largely spoken in English and has a Western narrative, as the script was written by British screenwriter Simon Beaufiy and directed by British film-maker Danny Boyle. The film was also funded by British and American sources. Additionally, the soundtrack itself was composed by popular Indian music director and producer A.R. Rahman and crosses cultural and geopolitical boundaries with its changing genres and rhythms. Some of the OSTs are also sung by M.I.A, a hybrid artist herself.

Upon its release, the movie was very transnational and crossed many national boundaries, becoming a global hit. It topped box offices worldwide and was nominated for and won many international awards, including numerous Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Golden Globes. However, although the film performed well internationally, it did not perform as well in India itself for numerous reasons. There was a debate on the “Indian-ness” of the movie and the ways in which it portrays Western stereotypes about the slums of India. Additionally, it felt more Western than Indian, largely in part because of the English dialogue. This was relevant when the dubbed version performed better in the box office. For many, it felt like an outsiders view of India, bringing up concerns of  cultural imperialism by the West. As Fazal Rizfi mentions in his piece “Bollywood,” it is a media form that is not always considered a product of Bollywood, but a hybrid formation bringing together elements of the West and East (Rizfi, 2012).

As a whole, Slumdog Millionaire is a great example of the fruits of globalization. It incorporates international elements, showcasing the interconnectedness of the world. However, it does bring up concerns of representation and the accuracy in which places and cultures are portrayed by the powerhouses of the world (Fiske, 1993).