Do Hindi Cinema & Television Serials Propagate Caste Stereotypes through Surnames of Characters: A Content Analysis

Caste affiliated surnames are very common in India. In fact, they convey a lot of caste stereotypes about the bearer. This is a subtle way of practicing caste based identities and related discriminations. The current study is a content analysis of the surnames of leading fictional characters in Hindi TV serials and movies to see if TV and cinema propagate caste stereotypes through surnames of their fictional characters. The result shows excessive use of upper caste affiliated surnames used both in TV serials and cinema while surnames affiliated to lower castes have negligible presence in these programmes.