07
Oct

Top Mainstream Indian Popular Culture Influences

author: gsik       category: Crowdsourcing, Culture, India

I need your help with a research project for which I’m trying to determine the top three or four pop culture influences in mainstream India, within the categories mentioned below. I’ve added in a few agents within each category but please recommend your top choices in the comments (especially for “Gaming”) as well as make changes as you see fit. Thanks in advance.

Edit: @nixxin raises a good point, “better to give a timeline for your pop culture influences - some pretty major changes over the past 5 years. (tweet) Examples - Sachin Tendulkar has probably been outed by Dhoni as a major influence. among kids, Hrithik Roshan beats Shah Rukh.” (tweet). The timeline is current for this project and about what’s trending in the market right now but also including some of the “evergreen” influences that have managed to remain uncontested over the last decade.

1. Film:
Bollywood (UTV, Reliance Big Entertainment, Percept Picture Company, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Paukone, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Kareena Kapoor, Ram Gopal Varma, Karan Johar)

2. Music:
A.R Rehman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Dj Aqeel, Vishal-Shekhar

3. Gaming:

4. TV:
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Ekta Kapoor

5. Comics:
Amar Chitra Katha, Diamond, Raj, Indrajal

6. Sports:
Cricket, T20, Tennis (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, M.S. Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi)

7. Fashion/Lifestyle:
Stardust, FHM, Maxim, GQ, Playboy, Vogue, Cosmopolitan (these might be less mainstream)

8. Educational/Historical:
Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Panchatantra, Jataka Tales

9. Cultural/Travel:
Taj Mahal, Gateway of India, India Gate, Qutub Minar, Himalayas, Temples, Sadhus, Kumbh Mela, Yoga, Spirituality

(Photo Credit: Rigmarole)

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EDIT: Thank you all for taking the time to give me your feedback and leaving such detailed comments. I really appreciate it. At long last I managed to compile the results and generate a tag cloud so you can take a look at what stands out amongst all the responses. (Click for larger view)

Winners: Bollywood, Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Taj Mahal, A.R. Rehman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, the Internet, all things mobile (phones, ringtones, games, downloads)—no surprises there. What surprised me though was the absence of Deepika Padukone and any real impact by Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwariya Rai. Also interesting to note is that Amar Chitra Katha is still a prominent feature but not Twenty20 cricket. I expected T20 to be a bigger deal but I guess the sample size is small and we’re in the off-season—there should be no doubts about its popularity.

Secondary: M.S. Dhoni, Yoga, Zapak, Gaming, Counter Strike, Regional (films, music, languages), Ekta Kapoor’s TV productions, Travel, Mumbai as a cultural hub, Diamond and Raj comics trailing Amar Chitra Katha.

Fringe: Cultural and religious attractions like India Gate, Qutub Minar and Temples, Soccer, Sania Mirza, Vedas, Jawaharlal Nehru, Himalayas, Kumbh Mela, Diwali, Durga Pooja, Theater, Rock Music.

These findings are consistent with the expectations I had at the start of the exercise. What are your thoughts? Were you surprised by any of the responses and how do you see this list evolving over the next few years?

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Viewing 20 Comments

    • ^
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    1. Film [ also theater ] : NCPA in Mumbai hosts some awesome plays. Bombay also has a 'small' but emerging street-theater culture during the Mumbai Festival [ in the Kala Ghoda area ]. Farhaan Akhtar for making films like Lakshya, Dil Chahta Hai and Rock On - huge push to the rock-music scene in India. Arjun Rampal - shift from modeling to bollywood.

    2. Music : Local live rock bands are getting popular : Blue Frog and Hard Rock Cafe in Bombay have live performances which are very popular. Euphoria, Kailash Kher, Indian Idol

    5. Comics : Chacha Chaudhary, Suppandi

    7. Fashion / Lifestyle : I really like this newly launched in India mag called Grazia. Whiff of fresh air after I was sick of Femina. There are portals like burrp! that share food / event reviews.

    8. Educational / Historical : I believe a lot of people are moving online - the internet is abuzz with a large number of portals / websites that cater to international and national audiences.

    9. Cultural / Travel : There is a increasingly popular trend toward biking trips - motorcycle clubs [ I know of www.whitesmokeriders.org ] - bike enthusiasts get together and plan trips. Friends pick up their beat-up Maruti 800 / Bullets and just take off alone or with a couple of friends to close-by locations.

    Can't help with TV much - don't watch it :p
    • ^
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    1. Film:
    SRK will be the single biggest factor in my opinion.
    Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor.

    2. Music:
    A.R Rehman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

    3. Gaming:
    Counter-Strike (not much of an idea about the rest but CS is ubiquitous in small towns).

    4. TV:
    Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Ekta Kapoor, Kaun Banega Crorepati.

    5. Comics:
    Spider-Man, Superman, Amar Chitra Katha, Diamond, Raj, Indrajal

    6. Sports:
    Sachin Tendulkar, Cricket, T20

    7. Fashion/Lifestyle:
    Maxim, Cosmopolitan, Zoom TV, Aastha Channel (lifestyle genre compatible)

    8. Educational/Historical:
    Ramayan, Mahabharat, Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Panchatantra.

    9. Cultural/Travel:
    Taj Mahal, India Gate, Qutub Minar, Himalayas, Temples, Sadhus, Kumbh Mela, Yoga, Spirituality
    • ^
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    1. Film: Aishwariya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan

    4. TV: Dus Kadam, Sa Re Ga Ma
    • ^
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    1. Film:
    AK, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, RGV, Rangashankara plays

    2. Music:
    A.R Rehman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Lots of other local musicians like Raghu Dixit, Joshua

    3. Gaming:
    Mainly FPS games, CS3, sometimes racing games too.

    4. TV:
    Highway on my plate, travel and living , Car and Bike shows, NGC, Man vs wild

    5. Comics:
    Amar Chitra Katha, Chandamama tales

    6. Sports:
    Cricket, RD, football, WRC,

    7. Fashion/Lifestyle:
    I have read only Playboy amongst this.

    8. Educational/Historical:
    Subash, shastri, Panchatantra,

    9. Cultural/Travel:
    Indian railways, Himalayas, long bike rides, back packing europe and india, ladakh, hampi, sikkim, YHAI treks, long car drives
    • ^
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    Here are my top 3 for each category-

    1. Film:
    SRK, Aamir Khan, Munnabhai.

    2. Music:
    A.R Rehman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Shaan.

    4. TV:
    Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Ekta Kapoor, Sa Re Ga Ma

    5. Comics:
    Amar Chitra Katha, Diamond, Chacha Choudhry

    6. Sports:
    Twenty 20, Dhoni, Sania Mirza.

    7. Fashion/Lifestyle:
    Air Deccan, Shahnaz Hussain, VLCC.

    8. Educational/Historical:
    Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Mandal Commission.

    9. Cultural/Travel:
    Taj Mahal, Yoga, Kumbh Mela
    • ^
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    3. Gaming: Sony PlayStation 2, First Person Shooter Multiplayer Action (Counter Strike), Videogame Piracy, The Racing Genre, Cellphone Games, Downloadable Content & Handhelds.
    • ^
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    Hi Gaurav,

    Sometime back, I tried to capture Indian mainstream culture in one sentence --

    The Indian cultural mainstream is Hindu, speaks Hindi, watches cricket/ Bollywood movies/ Hindi prime time soaps, lives in the past but saves for the future, accepts its place in the world and believes in putting family first.


    Perhaps, the folksonomy based approach you are trying out is more appropriate for studying a culture as diverse as India.

    Here are my additions to your list:

    1. Film: Regional films, Rajnikant, made-for-NRI movies

    2. Music: Regional film music, Indipop, bhajans, ghazals, mobile ringtones, "street procession music"

    3. Gaming: Mobile games

    4. TV: Hindi soaps, reality shows, dance shows, Chitrahaar, DTH, 24 hour news channels

    5. Comics: Diamond Comics, Chandamama, Indrajaal Comics, Amar Chitra Katha, newspaper comic strips, Sarnath Banerjee

    6. Sports: Cricket, gulli danda, kabaddi, badminton

    7. Fashion/ Lifestyle: Bridal couture, mobile phones, coffee chains, multiplexes, shopping malls

    8. Education/ Historical: Freedom struggle, Vedas, Bible, Quran, Ramayan, Mahabharat

    9. Cultural/ Travel: Backpacking, weekend getaways, religious "darshan" trips, spiritual tourism, medical tourism

    As you study culture, you may want to differentiate between cultural heritage, cultural assumptions, popular culture, subcultures and cultural artifacts.
    • ^
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    Thanks all... these are some great suggestions so far!

    Gaurav, you're right, there's an inherent interest in a variety of heritage topics that "still exist in the popular consciousness today" (as @vimoh says) (e.g. Vedas, Ramayan).

    Then there are the established forces that don't fluctuate - Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood, Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan.

    While tapping into these, a folksonomy based approach will give a handle on what the pulse is at any given moment in time around current trending topics.
    • ^
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    Hi Gaurav,

    These are in descending order

    1. Film:
    Bollywood (Aamir Khan, SRK, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu)

    2. Music:
    A.R Rehman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar

    3. Gaming:
    Counter-Strike, Zapak, Zapak Gameplex, AOE, AOM, Casual Games (miniclip etc)

    4. TV:
    Big Boss, Indian Idol

    5. Comics:
    None I can think of right now. For me, its a dying craft. Needs serious resurrection.

    6. Sports:
    Cricket, T20, Football (not tennis)
    Sachin Tendulkar, M.S. Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Leander Paes

    7. Fashion/Lifestyle:
    No clue. Not a fashion person.

    8. Educational/Historical:
    Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru

    9. Cultural/Travel:
    Travel: Kerala, Goa, Leh
    Historic: Yoga, Taj Mahal, India Gate, Qutub Minar, Yoga

    And I would love to see a report or compilation of all these responses.

    Hope this helps.

    Regards,
    SG
    • ^
    • v
    Music: DJ Suketu

    Culture/Travel: i think any religious festival, especially the bigger ones - Ganpati, Durga Puja, Navratri
    • ^
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    Hi Gaurav

    This is my list:

    1. Film: (Bollywood) Dil Chahta Hain, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, (Regional) Tamil Flims - Rajnikant

    2. Music: A.R.Rahman, Indi Pop, Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

    3. Gaming: Mobile Games

    4. TV: Channel V, MTV, Ektaa Kapoor ("K" serials)

    5. Comics: Not much into it.

    6. Sports: Cricket, Football (mostly European), M.S. Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly.

    7. Fashion/Lifestyle: Fancy Mobile phones, Eating in plush restaurants.

    8. Educational/Historical: Mahabharata, Ramayana, Animation movies depicting mythological characters, Mahatma Gandhi

    9. Cultural/Travel: Taj Mahal, Dying Kashmir, Durga Puja, Navratri, Ganpatti.

    Would appreciate a comprehensive list of all these responses. Please forward me your next post on this.

    --Sampad
    • ^
    • v
    1. Film:
    Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Yash Raj Films

    2. Music:
    A.R Rehman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Himmesh ( yeah seriously!)

    3. Gaming: Counter Strike, NFS, Sify iWay Gaming Zone, Mobile gaming, Zapak

    4. TV:
    K serials, Reality shows(Big Boss, Roadies, Indian Idol etc), Mahabharath, Ramayan

    5. Comics:
    no idea, unfortunately

    6. Sports:
    Sachin Tendulkar, anything cricket.

    7. Fashion/Lifestyle:
    No idea.

    8. Educational/Historical:
    Mahatma Gandhi,

    9. Cultural/Travel:
    Taj Mahal, Manali , Temples
    • ^
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    1. Film:
    influenced fashion(big time), language(especially the street version of all regional languages) and our outlook(very much). by outlook, i mean uninformed opinions still talk about the ways movie actors portrayed twenty years ago, but the gap is closing in fast because the very movies are going through a rapid change, rapid.

    2. Music:
    dissolution of all boundaries(bhangra is as pop, fusion is the new in thing even in indian rock)

    3. Gaming:
    we are to yet see some innovation here, but i guess we can wait until our home bred animation studios(hanuman, ramayan) and gaming portals(zapak) take that jump and are capable enough to create and carry off home grown characters.

    4. TV/Radio[Added Radio]:
    is contributing little. roadies and the like(the new age saas-bahu) find favor amongst the upper middle class only. can be comfortably neglected. and mtv/channel v is not about music anymore, vh1 is good for that now. discovery/nat geo is suddenly mainstream(more so to take some time off from saas-bahu). We catch all our music on radio and if we really like it, we may as well check the video out on youtube. this is keeping in mind that music in india is all about filmi music, and we don't have that many popular bands and their singles coming out every now and then.

    5. Comics:
    Is down and out. What is not visible and doesn't have instant recall value, is out. That's the test.

    6. Sports:
    Big Big influencer. Be it cricket or hockey or football, it is pulling at some very relevant chords of their audience. Rebellion, is the new order. Atleast it got people thinking about new ways to get into limelight and look around.

    7. Fashion/Lifestyle:
    These mainstream fashion rags have yet to make their mark into influencing fashion on the streets of our country, India. And that is definitely not until quality fashion is affordable and easily available to the populace. India is not a want-and-get economy unlike the US, so living standards here tail the demand by a decade or half.

    8. Educational/Historical:
    Education is certainly not top of the line, and can do better. and it will get better as and as our industries come of age and start talking to their immediate neighbours, the educational institutions. And our history is all the culture we had. We didn't had architectural brilliance, neither did we had artistic, poetic or musical talent in our past. Its been only half a century we are free and our fight for freedom is all the history we have, so much like Japan, which got heralded into the new age right after its bombing with no time to build monuments or commission painters or poets to show off its cultural richness. and the rest of our culture is what we had until 200 years ago from now. vedas, yoga, music, danceforms, buddha, mongols, taxila and so on.

    9. Cultural/Travel:
    travel is coming of age recently, but it will take time for the kids of this country to overcome the mental shock of seeing their parents planning a trip with floating point accuracy of 9 decimal places and carrying enough luggage and food to last a trip to mars and back. let the road network develop, let the people popularise their fare, and above all, let transportation become comfortable(what with all the population we have), we will see enough travelling.

    10. Newspapers (May I Suggest??)
    how can you forget this?? but your having neglected this means our newspapers are not doing a good job of keeping the world abreast with whats happening in india. newspapers, my distant friend, are corrupting the conscience of the common ignorant man, beyond recognition. they are the elephant in the room right now. they are on the way to merge into the political system, the very thing the fourth estate was born to keep a check on. a enormous hole has been created, and is widening, left to be filled by the next valiant enterprise who takes on this opportunity and can benefit, even financially. fear is if this is a foreign entity, it would cause a very troublesome power equation, as people will feed off anything they are served by way of news.

    11. Internet (May I Suggest)
    that you can't see this from there is understandable as well. Internet has moved from the "internet cafe" to the homes, and to our individual rooms. but i am not saying that cafes have died out, they won't in a long time, and they shouldn't. information should be accessible and as cheap as possible, and ten rupees for thirty minutes is good enough. thirty minutes, is all it takes, to surf as many orkut profiles, of people from india or abroad, and get a insight. insight into trends and whats in across the globe. check all the videos on their profiles, their interests, their movies, books, music and so on. Internet is changing the appearance of the youth externally, right now, and woah, the change is done, you can't really tell when venkat becomes vin. in conservative societies as found in this part of the globe, internet in the form of blogs, social netw profiles and other such representations allows enough and a much-needed vent for self-expression, and it is helping and influencing.
    • ^
    • v
    hmm.. wondering where things like Air Deccan (flying for the common man...incidentally Indian Railways is till pop), mobile phones (a communication revolution which replaced the earlier Pop icon the STD/PCO), credit cards (which changed the the regular Indian's outlook on personal influence) and BPOs (changing the lifestyles of Indian youth) fit in.. apologies if i digressed.. to redeem myself, Tinkle in comics? :)
    • ^
    • v
    Film: Aamir Khan

    Music: A. R. Rahman, Shankar Ehsan Loy

    Gaming: I am out of my depth here. I'd hazard to say Half Life (especially Counterstrike) and Max Payne. I see PS 2 and WII (I've seen people ask their cousins abroad for it) as being important too. I grew up at a time when we used to pay 50p - 1Re for playing Mario Bros. in the Arcade. There were hundreds of mom and pop shops that sprang up in the 90s at least in Delhi.

    TV: No comments. Haven't had one in 6 years :).

    Radio: Borders on annoying these days. I do see Wordspace making inroads into a lot of households.

    Comics: Definitely Amar Chitra Katha but Diamond Comics and Raj Comics were a staple diet for a lot us too.

    Sports: Tendulkar (once upon a time in India..) definitely Dhoni these days.

    Fashion/Lifestyle: No clue.

    Educational/Historical: Mahatma Gandhi

    Cultural/Travel: Weekend treks away from whichever city you are in. People do travel a lot to Southeast Asia these days (HK/Singapore/Malaysia seem to be the popular destinations).
    • ^
    • v
    gsik - a rather interesting project...

    I agree with krahulg...the list needs to be expanded with the inclusion of other forms of print media and not just comics.

    Ideally, media networks need to be broken down by channel -
    Films (well covered above)
    Television (i would add aaj tak)
    Radio (evergreen ones like 'binaca/cibaca geetmala', i hear satellite radio is gaining popularity)
    Print (includes some of your fashion lifestyle stuff, Times of India, Punjab Kesari, India Today)
    Web (Orkut - apparently the 2nd most visited website in India, shaadi.com)

    Just some random thoughts...more to come!
    • ^
    • v
    1. Film:
    Bollywood fragmenting into blockbusters with space for smaller indi films that do well (think Bheja Fry, Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II).

    2. Music:
    Pritam (his plagiarism as well as his style), Himesh Reshamiya (whose name I can’t spell), hip-hop (totally insidious in bolly now), Indipop (finally, albums sell) and Hindi language rock.

    3. Gaming: All I can think of is that big billboards for zapak.com + a surprising number of people have WII’s and PS3s

    4. TV:
    the saas-bahu serials = Ekta Kapoor + the rise of the (celebrity) reality show and celeb hosted game shows. Stand-comedy has increased visibility & there's a ridiculous amount of sensationalism on the 'news'

    5. Comics:
    The influx of graphic novels, even some desi ones. Perennial favorites like Amar Chitra Katha & Tintin still do well.

    6. Sports:
    Sania Mirza, ICL + IPL

    7. Fashion/Lifestyle:
    the rise of the MAN mag ;) and the fall of models. It’s celebs shilling everything everywhere

    8. Educational/Historical:
    B.R.Ambedkar & Shivaji (as in Chhatrapati Shivaji) = ubiquitous in culture and politics in Mumbai, at least.

    9. Cultural/Travel:
    commercialized religion/festivals – corporate-underwritten celebrations (Durga Puja in Kolkata was sponsored this year as are pandaals for Ganesh and Durga in Mumbai), increased interest in hiking and trekking + adventure sports like never before.

    No space for Internet or Radio? :) I have MUCH to say about radio and social media :D
    the radio stuff is already online on www.sonologue.com's podcasts though
    • ^
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    indians like Dishum Dishum in their film
    • ^
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    Sanjeevan,

    yes, "Dishum Dishum" and masala!
    • ^
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    Hi Gaurav,
    Fascinating work. My own theory is, I would consider the last 700 years as pop culture in the indian context. If i look at the typical south Indian (I'm more familiar with this side of the world, that's all) woman, a large part of her current behaviour, diet, cultural insignias etc., come from a time that's much older than the influences suggested here. I propose we develop a timescale metric to parse the present day indian.
 

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