Degree

Master of Science in Management

School

School of Business Studies (SBS)

Department

Department of Management

Date of Submission

Fall 2026-10-1

Supervisor

Dr. Ashar Saleem, Assistant Professor and Director Graduate Programs SBS

Committee Member 1

Dr. Jamal Shamsie, Visiting Academic, Department of Management

Committee Member 2

Dr. Muhammad Ayaz, Assistant Professor, Department of Management

Submission Type

MS Management Research Project

Document Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

Orientalism, India, Pakistan, Othering, Bollywood

Abstract

This study researchers how Bollywood, one of India’s most dominant Hindi-language film industries, constructs Pakistan and Pakistanis as a postcolonial other through their representation in cinema. Drawing on the framework of Orientalism by Edward Said, this research analyzes a sample of 16 films produced between 1997 and 2025. Through a close qualitative study of the narrative and visual descriptions across the movie sample the paper identifies a three-stage process through which this peripheral occident constructs its other, namely: Provisional dehumanization, institutional delegitimization, and construction of the moral self. Under these broader dimensions, seven themes are identified: narrative marginalization and dehumanization of Pakistanis, conditional humanization and the good Pakistani trope, religious and ideological construction of treat, spatialization of threat, delegitimization of Pakistani state institutions, militarized moral superiority, and nationalist reframing of history. The analysis reveals that Bollywood acts as an organizational actor by the way it manages and performs identity work in a systematic way. Thus, it is not just merely reflecting pre-existing tensions between the two countries. There has also been an apparent shift in the contexts of films produced in pre-2014 era versus post-2014 era. Closely aligning with the political stances of the ruling party, the post-2014 era mirrors a nationalist sentiment and favors militarized antagonism. By extending Said’s framework from West/East context to an intraregional context, this study establishes that Orientalism is not bound by the Western center, it just needs an (intendedly)hegemonic one.

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