Language as a Discursive Entity: A Foucauldian Analysis of the Selected Two Bollywood Movies

Abstract

This research is aimed at investigating the selected Bollywood movies i.e. Rohit Shetty’s movie Sooryavanshi (2021) and Rakesh Sawant’s Mudda (2019) from Foucauldian perspective. Both these movies depict Islamist Kashmiri fighters as terrorists who rape women and kill innocent people with support from Pakistani establishment. Foucault’s theory views language as a discursive entity which helps the powerful elite in subverting truth and reality. Similar situations prevail in both these movies in which language of characters’ dialogues serves the purpose of powerful Indian elite. The dialogues of Kashmiri fighters depict them as vulgar, voluptuous and inhuman creatures who deserve no sympathy whatsoever. On the contrary, the protagonists in the given movies express decency, civility and character, supporting political agenda of the Indian government. In all, language in both the films falls in line with Foucauldian perspective of discursive entity. Choice of lexical items makes Indian Army as hero and Kashmiris and Pakistanis as villains. This research suggests the readers to keep in mind the discursive side of language in movies.