Asia | Banyan

What does India’s government have against Bollywood?

The BJP is menacing the country’s film industry

IF BOLLYWOOD IS India’s secular religion, then the Khans—Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh—are its holy trinity. The three actors, who are unrelated, have for three decades sat at the top of India’s colossal Hindi-language film industry, their films, their characters and their personas wallpapering the country’s imagination. They are, perhaps as much as the prime minister and the captain of the national cricket team, the most recognisable faces in India. They also happen to be Muslim.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “BJP v Bollywood”

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From the October 30th 2021 edition

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