Bollywood Is Bangladeshi! Hindi Film and the Formation of a Middle-Class Audience.

Based on ethnographic research, in this article I suggest that with the consumption of Indian film and film-mediated culture and modernity, India's cultural hegemony and class inequalities in Bangladesh are reinforced. Following Bourdieu's (1984) concept of "distinction," I explain how middle-class values and status are attached to Hindi popular cinema in Bangladesh; as a result, Hindi film and film-mediated culture and modernity are considered to be tasteful, polished, well executed, and technically savvy compared to Bangladeshi commercial films, which are seen as poor people's entertainment. The hegemony of Bollywood films in Bangladesh works through the consumption of the production and representational values that are attached to film's story, music, dance, fashion, and style, as well as the people involved in it. While consuming Bollywood film and film-promoted culture and modernity, the middle class reinforces Indian cultural hegemony, alienating them from Bangladeshi commercial films that they define as low-grade, crass, and lacking in production values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]