Communication Culture & Critique ISSN 1753-9129 ORIGINAL ARTICLE “May the Force Be With You”: Narendra Modi and the Celebritization of Indian Politics Swapnil Rai Department of Film, Television and Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285, USA “May the force be with you” were the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parting words as he ended his 2014 address to a rapturous crowd of Indian Americans in New York’s Madison square garden. Modi is the first PM to address the country through his own radio show, actively use social media, as well as technologies such as the 3D hologram. This article examines the ways in which Modi’s celebritized politics is strategically constructed and performed, honing in on Modi’s utilization of media, technology, and popular culture. It interrogates the processes such as the personalization of his political image through social media, the use of film stars to cultivate affect and allure by association, in constructing brand Modi. Keywords: Politics, Technology, Digital Public Sphere, Celebrity, India, South Asia, Narendra Modi, Political Public Relations, Branding. doi:10.1093/ccc/tcz013 Many poorly educated voters stayed behind after rallies to check behind the dais to see if he [Narendra Modi] was really there. When the lights are switched on and the public sees, the stage is bare, the whole set has gone away, it creates a sense of awe. The illiterate in India’s villages are used to films but this is better (…) They think he has probably gone to the green room. They wait for the experience to sink in and ask where he is. Is he behind [the stage]? Their faces are so surprised. They say, “this happened and I saw it” (…) the Gandhi’s [are now left] decades behind.” (Dean, 2014) The above excerpt about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s spectacular 3D holographic speeches during his 2014 election campaign underscores the technology-driven affect that is tied to Modi’s political persona. From rural Andhra Pradesh to villages in east Bihar, these 3D appearances by Modi were greeted with awe and disbelief, leading to an equally spectacular election victory (Kapoor, 2015b). While scholarly and journalistic discourses on Modi have highlighted the Corresponding author: Swapnil Rai; e-mail: swapnilr@umich.edu 1 Communication Culture & Critique 00 (2019) 1–17 © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of International Communication Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ccc/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ccc/tcz013/5476448 by Periodical Department, swapnilrai@gmail.com on 30 April 2019