The movie PK was a good one for me. I liked the plot, Aamir's acting was really nice and the comedy was quite amusing. I though that there was a little too much of drama at the climax, but I was willing to let it go for the makers willingness to take on a bold subject like religion in India.
The movie admittedly did have a lot of scenes that are bound to offend the religious hardliners, and I must also admit the scenes shown have more reference to Hindu practices than the other main stream religions. I think the reasons for this is simple - for one, it's a no brainer that India has more Hindus than any other religion and therefore showing Hindu practices is bound to strike a cord with majority movie goers. Another reason - the truth is that Hinduism has more commonly seen/known quirks than Christianity or Islam, and so for creative purposes the director had no choice but to go ahead and show some of the religions funnier sides. And my next point is, so what if it shows more of Hindu religions follies? Is it not true that we had hundreds of self proclaimed godmen,spouting nonsense and molesting women? Is it not true that we have godmen who, while self righteously preach the virtues of abstinence from materialistic wealth, own a fleet of luxury cars, jewellery fit for kings and a life style matched only by Bollywood stars, Cricketers and fraudulent share traders?
My next bone to pick with the miscreants on the rampage after Hindutva has taken over our country is this - do you only want movies that appease you? Then what about Christians and Islamic people, they would want movies that appease them. And then we have the terrorists and politicians, we would have to refrain from portraying them. After we have removed all the scenes that are not acceptable to all members of the society we would be left with the title and the credits reel. And since dogs and other animals haven't yet learnt to bite in protest, maybe we can show them on screen without fear of screens being ripped and theaters being vandalized.
What is the need of a censor board if men on the street can decide what is suitable for public consumption? Maybe we should have a panel of all religions representatives, without forgetting to also include caste wise representation as well, and only if movies are ratified by all these members should it be released! Then we will see how these men spend their week ends dying for a dosage of bollywood masti! I was heartened by the fact that the censor board representative refused to bow down to this atrocious behavior and made it clear that they would not cut scenes. If they were to pander to every groups request for removal of scenes they deemed offensive, there would be no movies released ever in our country!
Why was there not so much as a peep out of anyone before the BJP was elected to the centre, in spite of no dearth of movies showing Hindu religions various superstitions and the pervasive charlatan babas? All the hue and cry seems to simply be the sycophantic efforts of party men and BJP supporters to draw the attention of the man of the hour, Mr Prime Minister.
It is clearly hypocrisy on the part of our country men to condemn radicals from another country or sect when we ourselves are clearly bigots, and quite unruly ones at that! If PK is to be banned I would say we need to ban Linga for showing Britishers in bad light. Then we need to ban the upcoming movie I for showing hump backs in bad light. Then we need to ban all of Vijaykanth's movies for showing Pakistan terrorists in bad light!
The self appointed censor movement in India is not in the right spirit, it will have implications beyond the imaginations of the BJP's vague assumptions. This, if unchecked will spread to all the publications and channels that make up the fourth estate. If the BJP again chooses a Hindutva agenda over development it can be sure to be thrown out for good the next time around! The nations knows that its better to have policy paralysed, harmless, mute decision makers as the nations leaders than have sectarian minded, divisive strategy driven, brute force wielding ones!
The movie admittedly did have a lot of scenes that are bound to offend the religious hardliners, and I must also admit the scenes shown have more reference to Hindu practices than the other main stream religions. I think the reasons for this is simple - for one, it's a no brainer that India has more Hindus than any other religion and therefore showing Hindu practices is bound to strike a cord with majority movie goers. Another reason - the truth is that Hinduism has more commonly seen/known quirks than Christianity or Islam, and so for creative purposes the director had no choice but to go ahead and show some of the religions funnier sides. And my next point is, so what if it shows more of Hindu religions follies? Is it not true that we had hundreds of self proclaimed godmen,spouting nonsense and molesting women? Is it not true that we have godmen who, while self righteously preach the virtues of abstinence from materialistic wealth, own a fleet of luxury cars, jewellery fit for kings and a life style matched only by Bollywood stars, Cricketers and fraudulent share traders?
My next bone to pick with the miscreants on the rampage after Hindutva has taken over our country is this - do you only want movies that appease you? Then what about Christians and Islamic people, they would want movies that appease them. And then we have the terrorists and politicians, we would have to refrain from portraying them. After we have removed all the scenes that are not acceptable to all members of the society we would be left with the title and the credits reel. And since dogs and other animals haven't yet learnt to bite in protest, maybe we can show them on screen without fear of screens being ripped and theaters being vandalized.
What is the need of a censor board if men on the street can decide what is suitable for public consumption? Maybe we should have a panel of all religions representatives, without forgetting to also include caste wise representation as well, and only if movies are ratified by all these members should it be released! Then we will see how these men spend their week ends dying for a dosage of bollywood masti! I was heartened by the fact that the censor board representative refused to bow down to this atrocious behavior and made it clear that they would not cut scenes. If they were to pander to every groups request for removal of scenes they deemed offensive, there would be no movies released ever in our country!
Why was there not so much as a peep out of anyone before the BJP was elected to the centre, in spite of no dearth of movies showing Hindu religions various superstitions and the pervasive charlatan babas? All the hue and cry seems to simply be the sycophantic efforts of party men and BJP supporters to draw the attention of the man of the hour, Mr Prime Minister.
It is clearly hypocrisy on the part of our country men to condemn radicals from another country or sect when we ourselves are clearly bigots, and quite unruly ones at that! If PK is to be banned I would say we need to ban Linga for showing Britishers in bad light. Then we need to ban the upcoming movie I for showing hump backs in bad light. Then we need to ban all of Vijaykanth's movies for showing Pakistan terrorists in bad light!
The self appointed censor movement in India is not in the right spirit, it will have implications beyond the imaginations of the BJP's vague assumptions. This, if unchecked will spread to all the publications and channels that make up the fourth estate. If the BJP again chooses a Hindutva agenda over development it can be sure to be thrown out for good the next time around! The nations knows that its better to have policy paralysed, harmless, mute decision makers as the nations leaders than have sectarian minded, divisive strategy driven, brute force wielding ones!
No comments:
Post a Comment