The lesson of Chadwick Boseman
The TLDR: On Friday, Chadwick Boseman lost a four-year battle with colon cancer at the young age of 43. In him, the world lost a great human being, a great actor and a great Black man. Tributes poured in from around the world, including Bollywood celebs—none of whom mentioned his Blackness, which was inextricably intertwined with his life and career. To do so would require B'wood to confront its own racism toward Black people and its other, far bigger problem: casteism. This is part one of our examination Boseman and the light he shines on Bollywood bigotry.
First, a brilliant tribute: If you watch just one eulogy to Boseman, this is the one:
A meaningful life
The origins: Boseman came from modest beginnings, the son of a nurse and textile worker. He first set his sights on a basketball career, and was recruited to play at the college level. But he changed his mind when a teammate was shot and killed. Looking back, he said: “I just had a feeling that this was something that was calling me.”
Boseman instead wrote his first play and staged it in school, and enrolled in the historic Black Howard University—where he took directing classes. Tragedy birthed a sense of greater purpose intertwining Boseman’s identity with his life’s work.
The career: Success did not come easy to Boseman. He struggled in bit parts until he got his first big break in 2013, playing the baseball giant Jackie Robinson in ‘42’. He would quickly go on to portray James Brown in Get On Up (2014) and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in Marshall (2017). Each of these three Black men struck a significant blow for equality.
It’s therefore no coincidence that his greatest cinematic success—‘Black Panther’—was the first Black-dominated Marvel movie, and delivered the world’s first Black superstar superhero. It was always about ‘opening doors’, as Boseman made clear when he delivered the commencement address at Howard:
Opening doors for Boseman: At each turn, Boseman was inspired and supported by Black successes that came ahead of him. There was a chance encounter with Muhammad Ali that left him walking “away light and ready to take on the world… I realized that he was transferring something to me on that day. He was transferring the spirit of the fighter in me.” Years later—while filming ‘Black Panther’—Boseman tweeted this photo in memory of that lifelong inspiration:
Boseman’s other guardian angel: Denzel Washington—who anonymously funded a summer program at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford. Years later, he would make his secret benefactor cry with this speech:
Bollywood: #WakandaNever
It’s hardly surprising that Bollywood’s response to Boseman’s death was as mindless as its #BLM messages. There was much talk of his “legacy,” some mention of “stereotype,” but his true gift to the world remained unmentioned.
None of this is surprising given the depiction of Blacks in Hindi movies—i.e. when they show up on screen at all. Everyone talks about that moment when Priyanka Chopra in ‘Fashion’ wakes up after a one-night stand with a Black stranger—whose very Blackness marks her loss of moral direction. But there are many other examples that are far more repellent. Here are three of the worst.
One: This appalling ‘superhit’ dance number featuring Helen and…. Honestly, no amount of editorialising can do this justice.
Two: Flash forward to 2000 and Govinda and Rani Mukherjee in ‘Hadh Kar Di Aapne’, things have not improved even the teensiest bit. It includes not just blackface but also gross caricatures that would make the KKK proud.
Three: Cut to 2009, here’s Akshay Kumar getting all excited about getting a “private security search” from a hot blonde (not in whiteface), until a black woman (in blackface) arrives to do the job.
Point to note: Each of these scenes features highly successful actors—and not one of these scenes sparked a murmur of protest, let alone outrage, at the time of release. And no one has regretted their participation in retrospect.
The bottomline: While plenty of well-deserved ink has been spilt on Bollywood’s objectification of white women (examples here and here), there is very little on the far more repugnant treatment of Blacks. In fact, most conversations around ‘racism’ in Bollywood have been reduced to skin colour—where bias against dark skin (and brownface) is the focus of outrage.
Hierarchy, however, is not reducible to skin-tone—especially in India where physical appearance does not correlate neatly with privilege. Dark-hued Brahmins do not lose their privilege simply because they are not fair and lovely. To draw a genuine parallel to racism in Hollywood, we will have to look at that great unmentionable in tinseltown: caste. And that’s what we will do next in part two of this series.
Reading list
- Of the many tributes to Boseman, we recommend the New York Times on his moral authority, The Atlantic on his profound heroism and The Undefeated on how he used his star power for good.
- Boseman reflects on ‘Black Panther’ in what may be one of his best interviews on Cnet.
- Watch: His acceptance speech at Screen Actors Guild awards on the burden of being ‘young, gifted and black’.
- Read: His commencement speech at Howard University—and share it with every recent college graduate you know. It is wonderful.
- Entertainment Weekly speculates on the future of the ‘Black Panther’ franchise.
- This Medium essay compares a White Westeros with a Black Wakanda.
- See: a photo of Lewis Hamilton performing the Wakanda salute. Our pick for best tribute: this one by Angela Bassett.
- Best read on anti-Blackness in Bollywood: Dhruva Balram on Media Diversified.