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The IUP Journal of English Studies

Apun Jaise Tapori": Mirroring the Social Hierarchy Through the Incorporation of Tapori Language in Rajkumar Hirani's Munna Bhai Series

Article Details

Pub. Date	: Sep, 2020
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJES60920
Author Name	: Praggnaparamita Biswas
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Arts & Humanities
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 15

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Abstract

The interconnectivity between language and social power fabricates the narratives of social hierarchy and domination. Social relations of power, domination, or mutual respect are embedded in interaction between people expressing through language. An analysis of the language will indicate power relations being created, accepted, or contested. Cinema, a medium of conversation, finds its articulation through language. Tapori, an admixture of Bombaiya Hindi, embodies a polyglot culture that does not fix itself within a traditional Hindi/ Urdu conflict, rather enters a space where a multilingual street culture inflected with diverse regional accents can be captured in the speaking of working class. Rajkumar Hirani's directorial endeavors, Munna Bhai series (2003 and 2006), incorporate the tapori language and culture for his protagonist Munna Bhai to mirror the class conflicts and social hierarchy between the elite and working class people. By analyzing the tapori culture from social and linguistic perspectives and following Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and taste, this paper thus seeks to answer the following questions: How is Bombaiya Hindi positioned compared to standard Hindi If tapori as a subculture intermingles with dominant language Hindi, does it have the possibility of social contamination in terms of linguistic hierarchy What social functions are assigned to tapori language

Introduction

Language, being a shared symbolic resource, cannot be an individual treasure, and therefore it is communicable and sociable. It determines our social position. The inseparable connection between language and social power always points to the intertwining web of language and social structure. Language reflects the live situation within the structure of social forces in which people take up position in relation to each other. The process of linguistic analysis discloses the fact that power relation is created, accepted, or contested through the use of spoken languages. This power relation,