Indian Film Industry
India is home to the largest film industry in the world. In particular it rivals Hollywood that produces far less movies thanmade in India. But the main center of films in India is Mumbai. The movies are churned out in the Hindi language and are extremely popular amongst Indian expatriates abroad as well as in the neighboring countries of the Middle East and South East Asia.
The Indian movie industry has now come of age and serious movies are also being made that cater to the world market. But there is a dichotomy that is hard to explain as in a country with an overwhelming Hindu population, the major top stars all profess the Moslem religion.
The Indian movie industry has now come of age and serious movies are also being made that cater to the world market. But there is a dichotomy that is hard to explain as in a country with an overwhelming Hindu population, the major top stars all profess the Moslem religion.
Moslem Stars
Thus the top stars of the Hindi films like Saif Ali Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman khan et all are Moslems. Though, it cannot be denied that these stars mostly portray Hindu roles. There are Hindu stars as well but the popularity of the Moslem stars is unrivaled.
It is not only the Moslem film stars who rule the roost in India but even all other departments of film craft like direction, music, editing, songs etc. are dominated by the minority community.
It is not only the Moslem film stars who rule the roost in India but even all other departments of film craft like direction, music, editing, songs etc. are dominated by the minority community.
The fact remains that the Moslem stars have endeared themselves to the vast majority of Hindus who literally adore them. Thus any talk of discrimination against the minority community is perhaps redundant.
Hindu revivalist Parties have failed
We have had leaders like Bala sahib Thackeray ( Who passed away last Year) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad who cater to Hindu revivalist thought. But even these organizations are unable to dent the popularity of the Moslem stars. Moslem stars have always ruled the Hindi film world ever since the movie industry was launched in India. In the earlier period just after independence most of the Moslem stars adopted Hindu names. The most prominent was Yusuf khan, who adopted the name Dilip Kumar. But in the present age most Moslem stars are proud to flaunt their religion and again their popularity has not diminished among the Hindu masses.
Female Super Stars
The King of the Mumbai film world is Shah Rukh Khan who has endeared himself to the Indian public with a variety of roles. He is one star who is versatile and does justice to all his roles. The trend of male heroes is not an exception as female Moslem stars have also received top billing. In fact the top heroines have been all Moslems like Nargis, Nimmi, Meena Kumari, Shyama, Madhubala and dozens of others. These women stars have made a name for themselves and the trend has continued with heroines like being Katrina kaif being crowned as number 1.
Last Word
One can truly say that Indian secularism has come of age. It can't happen anywhere else in the world and India in that respect is unique.Another point is the complete absence of the Burkha which has been thrown aside.
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