Devotional Fanscapes: Bollywood Star Deities, Devotee-Fans, and Cultural Politics in India and Beyond

by Shalini Kakar

Overview

Devotional Fanscapes: Bollywood Star Deities, Devotee-Fans, and Cultural Politics in India and Beyond examines how fans worship film stars as deities. Focusing on temples dedicated to Bollywood (Hindi cinema) stars and the artifacts produced by Hindi and Tamil cinema fans, Shalini Kakar illustrates how the fan constructs their identity as a devotee and that of the star as a deity. Extending her research from India to the US, Kakar highlights the transnational dimensions of this phenomenon to demonstrate the degree to which devotional fan practices (fan-bhakti) and fan artifacts can help us rethink art, religion, and politics. With its interdisciplinary approach, this book addresses how fan-bhakti is performed in the global landscape, in the process augmenting new religious models and identities based on the idea of the “cinematic sacred.”

For more information, check out www.sacredfandom.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781793646279
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	02/15/2023
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	6.21(w) x 9.32(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Shalini Kakar is an independent scholar and art historian.

Table of Contents

PART I. Constructing Identity: Star as a Deity and Fan as a Bhakt

CHAPTER 1: “Sorry God, We Worship Amitabh More than You”: Bollywood Deities and the ‘Publics ofFan-bhakti’

CHAPTER 2: Star Murtis: Film Posters as Ritual Objects

PART II. Materiality and Spatial Constructs: Devotee-Fan Art

CHAPTER 3: “Starring” Madhuri as Durga: The Madhuri Dixit Temple and the Performative Fan-bhakti of Pappu Sardar

CHAPTER 4: Transforming the Object of Art: M. F. Husain and Devotional Fandom

PART III. Crossing Borders: Devotee-Fans and their Transnational Socio-Political Trajectories

CHAPTER 5: Get Rajinified: India to USA, the “God of Style” and his Devotee-fans

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating study of film fandom in the context of Hindu bhakti. This book will engage students of religion, cinema and politics of South Asia and beyond. An excellent debut from a scholar to watch.

Rachel Dwyer

Devotional Fanscapes gives the unique phenomenon of Bollywood fandom the scholarly attention it deserves, putting it in the context of everyday Hindu religiosity and the transnational cultural networks of which it forms an important part.

Brian Collins