Consumption of Bollywood Movies among second-generation Indian-Americans

The data was collected among second-generation Indian Americans aged between 18-26 to understand how they interpret Bollywood movies they watch. Diaspora and Bollywood share a peculiar relationship since diaspora uses Bollywood movies to connect to the homeland. The findings show that there are both similarities and dissimilarities in the ways second-generation audiences consume Bollywood in comparison to first-generation audiences. In many ways their readings are contradictory. However, such contradictory readings persist due to their multiple positionalities they occupy in relation to the cross cultural influences in their lives. While they are nostalgic about their Indianness that was portrayed in Bollywood movies of the 90s, they were also subjected to criticism on how they portrayed women. Today's movies received acclaim for their effort towards addressing problems in the way gender was dealt previously, these audiences believe there is certain loss of authenticity in movies of today. Data was collected using telephonic interviews. Snowball and purposive sampling was used to reach out to those audiences who frequently watched Bollywood movies. The interview schedule was semi-structured and the questions tried to bring out the interpretations of the respondents regarding how gender is portrayed in Bollywood movies from the recent past. This is including but not limited to notions of attractiveness, gender roles, and gender stereotypes. Respondents were asked to reflect on what they think are commonplace characteristics of a hero and a heroine in Bollywood movies and how the interaction between the two genders plays out. Specific examples of instances from recent movies are used to help respondents to engage with the question in a well-rounded fashion while being wary of any impulses to lead them on