ENGLISH-ROLE OF RELIGION IN INDIAN CINEMA

  • Zubair Shafiq Assistant Professor, Department of Media Studies, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6722-9246
  • Tanveer Hussain Assistant professor School of media and communication studies, University of Management and technology, Lahore, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7991-2226
  • Hafiz Ahmad Ali Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0034-8448
Keywords: Religion, Islam, Hinduism, Secularism, Cinem

Abstract

Relationship between cinema and religion is as old as the history of cinema. Since the beginning of commercial feature films in the sub-continent (now Pakistan, India and Bangladesh), religion was used as a tool of acceptance and popularity of this new medium. Until now the use of religion is common in the cinema industries of India and Pakistan. This paper is part of a major project that attempts to explore the use of religion in the sub-continent region. The current paper only focuses on its one dimension which is to study the role of religion in Indian cinema and the ways it has used religion as one of its major narrative tools. Due to the excessive use of religious and mythological elements in films, this paper offers an analysis of selected horror films. The study established that Hinduism gains a superior position from Islam and Christianity in Indian horror. However, all the films show respect to these religions. Moreover, when the religious force confronts the secular, the ‘monster’ in these films punishes the secular and leaves the believers.  

Published
2020-05-31