NATIONALISM, GOVERNANCE, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN BOLLYWOOD: A CRITICAL STUDY OFPOLITICAL NARRATIVES IN IMDB-RATED AND HIGHEST-GROSSING FILMS (2005–2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/ShodhVichar.v2.i2.2026.136Keywords:
Bollywood, Nationalism, Governance, Social Justice, Political Communication, Audience Reception, Box OfficeAbstract
Background: Bollywood is an influential medium of political communication that reflects and shapes public understanding of nationalism, governance, democracy, identity, and social justice. Aim: This study critically examined political narratives in selected IMDb-rated and highest-grossing Bollywood films released between 2005 and 2025 and assessed their relationship with audience reception and commercial performance. Methods: A qualitative-dominant mixed-method design was applied to a purposive sample of 20 Hindi films. Structured content analysis, thematic analysis, and critical discourse analysis were used to examine civic, cultural, military, and majoritarian nationalism; governance, corruption, democracy, and political institutions; and caste, gender, economic inequality, human rights, and activism. IMDb ratings and worldwide box-office collections were analysed descriptively. Results: Civic nationalism appeared in 55% of films, followed by cultural nationalism in 40% and military nationalism in 20%. Institutional accountability and state power appeared in 60% each, while bureaucratic failure occurred in 55% and corruption in 40%. Human and minority rights were represented in 90%, social activism in 55%, and gender and economic inequality in 35% each. IMDb ratings and box-office collections showed a weak negative association (r = −0.35). Conclusion: Bollywood functions as a major cultural arena where political authority, national identity, democratic accountability, and social inequalities are negotiated, although audience approval does not necessarily ensure commercial success.
References
Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Rev. ed.). Verso.
Banaji, S. (2006). Reading “Bollywood”: The Young Audience and Hindi Films. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501201 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501201
Devasundaram, A. I. (2022). Bollywood’s Majoritarian Politics and the Independent Alternative. Current History, 121(834), 154–156. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2022.121.834.154 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2022.121.834.154
Dudrah, R. K. (2006). Bollywood: Sociology Goes to the Movies. Sage Publications.
Dwyer, R. (2014). Bollywood’s India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Contemporary India. Reaktion Books.
Ganti, T. (2012). Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395225 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395225
Karmakar, G., and Catterall, P. (2025). Nation, Nationalism and Indian Hindi Cinema. National Identities, 27(1–2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14608944.2024.2440753 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14608944.2024.2440753
Khatun, N. (2024). Postcolonial Bollywood and Muslim Identity: Production, Representation, and Reception. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198891017.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198891017.001.0001
Kumar, V., and Chaturvedi, R. (2014). Coalition Between Politics and Entertainment in Hindi Films: A Discourse Analysis. Journal of Education and Social Policy, 1(1), 29–40. https://jesp.thebrpi.org/journals/Vol_1_No_1_June_2014/6.pdf
Lorenzen, M., and Täube, F. A. (2008). Breakout from Bollywood? The Roles of Social Networks and Regulation in the Evolution of the Indian Film Industry. Journal of International Management, 14(3), 286–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2008.01.004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2008.01.004
Osuri, G. (2014). ‘Ma’ and a Political Theology of Hindi Cinema. Theory, Culture and Society, 31(7–8), 231–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276414547778 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276414547778
Prasad, M. M. (1998). Ideology of the Hindi Film: A Historical Construction. Oxford University Press.
Raghavendra, M. K. (2014). The Politics of Hindi Cinema in the New Millennium: Bollywood and the Anglophone Indian Nation. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450565.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450565.001.0001
Rajadhyaksha, A. (2003). The “Bollywoodization” of the Indian Cinema: Cultural Nationalism in a Global Arena. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 4(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/1464937032000060195 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1464937032000060195
Ray, N. (2023). Masculinist Constructions of Nationalism in India: Gender, Body Politics, and Hindi Cinema. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 25(3), Article 5. https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol25/iss3/5/
Virdi, J. (2003). The Cinematic ImagiNation: Indian popular Films as Social History. Rutgers University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Bharat Banga, Anil Kumar Pandey (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
With the licence CC-BY, authors retain the copyright, allowing anyone to download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute, and/or copy their contribution. The work must be properly attributed to its author.
It is not necessary to ask for further permission from the author or journal board.
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
