Book Talk: H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Popstars

Can a song trigger a murder?
Can a poem spark a riot?
Can a book divide a people?

Away from the gaze of mainstream urban media, across India’s dusty, sleepy towns, a brand of popular culture is quietly seizing the imagination of millions, on the internet and off it. From catchy songs with acerbic lyrics to poetry recited in public gatherings to social media influencers shaping opinions with their brand of ‘breaking news’ to books rescripting historical events, ‘Hindutva Pop,’ or H-Pop, is steadily creating societal acceptability for Hindutva’s core beliefs. Award-winning independent journalist Kunal Purohit travels through India, profiling some of H-Pop’s most prolific and popular creators, inquiring whether they are driven by ideology or commerce, and what motivates the audience to consume its daily dose of bigotry.

Kunal Purohit is an award-winning independent journalist, documentary film-maker and podcast creator. Over the past two decades, Kunal has written on issues of development, politics, and inequality. More recently, his work has focused on hate crimes and the rise of Hindu nationalism. He is the recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Civic Journalism (2012), the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting (2014) and the UNFPA-Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitive Reporting (2014 and 2019).