Kunal Purohit’s 2023 book H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars is a literary journalism work combining reportage with immersive narratives of three vividly etched-out characters: Kavi Singh, Kamal Agney, and Sandeep Deo. Through their stories, Purohit examines pop music, poetry, and influencer culture respectively. H-Pop works on multiple levels: an anthropological deep dive into the world of Hindutva pop, literary nonfiction about the lives of these Hindutva pop artists, investigative journalism about their links with the BJP and other Hindutva organizations, and academic analysis of the role of music, poetry, and pop culture in stoking violence.  In my interview with Purohit, I asked him how he approached this hybridity in his work, constructed such empathetic character portraits, and reconciled his personal beliefs with a sense of journalistic “objectivity.”  As someone who researches the saffronization of India’s Hindi film industry, I was also curious about how ideologically committed these…

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