“ Soch nayi, swad wahi ” (New thinking, same old taste): Reterritorializing gendered space in the films of Karan Johar

This article will critically examine Karan Johar’s film oeuvre to discuss how his film philosophy changes over two and a half decades (1998–2023), as he appropriates the Bollywood genre of “family films for neoliberal audiences while simultaneously capitalizing on this populist model. It argues that Johar’s cinematic narratives dismantle traditional gender roles and destabilize the heteronormative family space – the iconic metaphor of nation in Hindi cinema. Yet, while subverting the normative narrative of nationhood and validating the importance of the family unit in globalized India, Johar explores alternative social configurations. The article will draw on Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s theoretical framework of de- and reterritorialization in relation to Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity to explore how in apparently affirming family values in his cinematic conclusions, Johar leaves open the possibility to perform identity differently: this reterritorialized identity, the article concludes, constitutes a decolonization of India’s postcolonial politics.