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This paper critically contextualizes the open secret of Karan Johar’s sexuality as a key marketable commodity in the neoliberal framework of the ‘KJo’ brand. It examines the cultural legibility of the open secret of his sexuality. It argues that the juxtaposition between the ubiquity of his open secret and his maintained silence on identifying his sexuality serves as an incitement that enables a study of his role in incrementally making space for a depoliticized and individualized upper-class male same-sex sexuality. By mapping the textuality of his open secret in the culture industry surrounding the Hindi film industry this paper offers a nuanced critique of the co-option of male same-sex sexuality by Karan Johar and its deployment as a gimmick.

This paper documents how the British Bangladeshi diaspora in the UK has been collaborating to contribute to the growth of the creative sector in the UK and in Bangladesh. Through case studies from the creative-start-up of Oitij-jo (February 2013) and subsequently the planning of its second project ‘AKHON: Where is Bengal Now’, this paper charts the collaborations between the culture and creative industries of Bengali heritage (film, photography, theatre, dance, music, art, architecture, textiles and fashion) involved in the project between 2013 and 2016. The authors question widely used policy notions of ‘the creative class’ and ‘creative clustering’ and explore the collaborative economy model for the growth of Bangladeshi cultural and creative industries. Using infographics and netnographic interviews, the paper maps out advantages and disadvantages of collaboration linked to digital and non-digital peer-to-peer skills sharing and entrepreneurship. It concludes with the next steps for Oitij-jo an...

This paper examines the historic growth and development of the design sector in India, and evaluates the potential of the industry to contribute to innovation performance as the country’s manufacturing sector continues its expansion via a comparative analysis of design policies in advanced economies and those in India, and an evaluation of the performance of design promotional initiatives, the paper identifies lessons that might be incorporated sensitively into the future elaboration of Indian design policy. The paper concludes that design inputs can contribute to both social and economic development (and to innovation performance in both traditional craft and hi-tech manufacturing). However, it also argues that policy to support intelligent growth, diffusion and take-up of design must be attuned to both qualitative issues of culture, diversity and tradition, and to ‘harder’ issues of location, infrastructure, skills, investment and demand.

Digital memes have become a widespread form of engagement with media texts in popular cultures. This paper focuses on image macros that incorporate Bollywood film content and establish transcultura...