Bollywood and Cultural Contestation: Examination of Digital Mobilization Against the Hindi Film Industry

Bollywood, the Hindi-language segment of India's movie industry, is one of the few institutions in Hindu-majority India with a significant Muslim elite. This secular characteristic puts Bollywood at odds with the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Since 2014, followers of the BJP have organized digital campaigns to cancel films featuring actors deemed adversarial to the party’s Hindutva ideology. Situated within the broader framework of cancel culture, this study conducts a critical discourse analysis of 3,500 #BoycottBollywood tweets to examine how online Hindu nationalists discursively construct the Hindi film industry to legitimize their cancelation efforts. Our analysis revealed that by portraying Bollywood as Hinduphobic, morally corrupt, nepotistic/elitist, and unpatriotic, right wing activists mobilized support for their canceling efforts. The study demonstrates that although right-wing supporters elsewhere decry cancel culture as an affront to free speech, in India, they weaponize it to attack opponents and foster group cohesion. The findings also underscore the contrast between cancel campaigns by liberal groups and the populist right. While the former is inclusive, aiming to empower the voiceless, the latter uses canceling to exclude and disempower out groups. The implications of these cancel campaigns for creative freedom, artistic expression, and free speech in India are discussed.