Cultural Political System

The use of popular culture of music, dance, songs, theatre, videos and films for electioneering has been part of the Indian election process. Politics has been the narrative of Indian cinema since the beginning of century where political themes, political roles and political issues were exemplified through lead roles of politicians, enactment of political scenes, political satires and songs. This chapter examines the role of film artists in politics, popular political songs in films and campaign films that have expanded the levels of traditional and new media campaigning in India. Films and songs in the films glorify the country, arouse patriotism and whenever needed expose social issues such as high prices, corruption, feudalism, and other political issues. In the process, political campaign films became a way of marketing parties and candidates. This further characterizes the future of the political cultural system and the political economy of Indian cinema.