Swapnil Rai

Dr. Swapnil Rai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film, Television and Media at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research focuses on global film and television, media industries, women and gender studies, race and ethnicity, transnational stardom, and celebrity culture. Her book Networked Bollywood: How Star Power Globalized Hindi Cinema, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press.

Her work has appeared in a range of publications including Communication, Culture & Critique, Feminist Media Studies, International Journal of Communication, JumpCut, Journal of the School of Literature (JSL) and Cinephile.

Dr. Rai holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Radio, TV and Film at the University of Texas at Austin. She has served as a Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow at the Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University and has taught at the College of Film and the Moving Image at Wesleyan University. 

In her prior experience as a journalist, writer and editor, Swapnil has covered beats pertaining to cinema, art and culture. She has also worked in the multimedia and information services industry for Thomson Reuters.

Affiliation(s)

UM - The Institute for Research on Women and Gender

UM - International Institute

UM - Center for World Performance Studies

UM - Center for South Asian Studies

Recent Publications 

• "From Bombay Talkies to Khote Productions: female star switching power in bollywood production culture," Feminist Media Studies (2020) 1-15.
• “May the Force Be With You”: Narendra Modi and the Celebritization of Indian Politics," Communication, Culture and Critique 12.3 (2019) 323–339.

Board Memberships

Console-ing Passions: Feminist Media Collective

Television & New Media: Journal

Popular Communication: Journal