Stereotypical Representation of the Muslim Characters in a Bollywood Movie Sarfarosh

Abstract

This paper studies the stereotypical representation of Muslim characters and Indian nationalistic ethos in famous Bollywood movie Sarfarosh. The movie deals with the cross-border terrorists and smugglers in which Amir Khan (Rathod) acts as a Hindu ACP assigned to rattle the network of smugglers. Formerly, Salim, a Muslim police officer was given the duty to deal with the terrorist network but as soon as Sultan escapes from his custody killing three constables, the department loses its trust upon him and the case was given to Rathod. Salim feels the minority status of being a Muslim but Rathod eases his dissatisfaction making him good accomplice in the case. It shows that Bollywood is promoting Hindu-Muslim fraternity in Indian society but at the same time, represents cross-border Muslims as terrorists and sells the hatred against Pakistani Muslims shaped by the discourses of patriotism and nationalistic ethos in Indian society. At the same time, it cashes on the deteriorating image of Muslims in recent years in Western media representations satisfying the psychological demand of the Western audience. This research also analyzes the discursive foundation of Indian hatred against the Muslims outside India analyzing the reasons behind Hindu-Muslim rift and religious riots and partition of Pakistan as an independent nation, ever minority status of the Muslim community along with the reasons behind stereotypical representation of Muslims in Bollywood movies.