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Bollywood And Propaganda - acharya - 06-04-2004
<b>Cinema as ideology </b>
Utpal Kumar
"A Hindu can argue with words but can't fight with his sword for his religion," observed Alberuni when he arrived in India along with plundering hordes of Ghazni. This statement still holds true, but for the Indian media, Hindu fundamentalism poses a serious threat to the very existence of minorities. They bash the Hindus in the garb of democracy. In a world where projections are shown as the reality it is not surprising that there is no demarcating line between the real and the virtual.
Despite its reputation as the hub of frothy tear-jerkers, the Mumbai film industry has always possessed social conscience: From Raj Kapoor's subtle sense of socialism (Nehruvian influence) to Amitabh Bachchan's anti-establishment posture following Mrs Gandhi's Emergency. Even the return of romance in Indian cinema with a sense of optimism can be seen in relation to India's fruitful entry into the competitive world of globalisation and getting rid of 'sterile socialism'. However, with this, the concept of "nationalism" and 'Hindu fundamentalism' too came into focus.
So, it is hardly surprising if a Hindu is shown as a terrorist; the only obstacle to amicable relations between India and Pakistan, in Shah Rukh Khan's latest film Main Hoon Na, notwithstanding the fact that not a single Hindu terrorist organisation exists in this country. Had it been so there would have been sundry terrorist groups among Kashmiri Hindus, as no less than four lakh Pandits have been forced to leave the Valley. The Gujarat riots were an aberration; but they also discouraged taking Hindus for granted. The basic upbringing of Hindus, their fundamental ideology and, of course, the last thousand years of 'Dhimmitude' stands in the way of any such development.
<b>In a sense, Main Hoon Na can be compared with Khalid Mohammed's Fiza and Aparna Sen's Mr & Mrs Iyer. Fiza had a clear message-you can't expect justice in the land of Hindus and jihad is the only possible recourse for Muslims. Similarly, Mr & Mrs Iyer projected Jews, Hindus and Muslims in contrasting colours. While Jews and Hindus were shown as narrow fundamentalists, Muslims were projected as either the victims of Hindu fundamentalism or as suave, progressive and moderate citizens. </b>
Now the broader question: What is the reason behind the growing bonhomie between India and Pakistan? It is not that good sense has suddenly prevailed in Pakistan. Nor that the arguments of Track II diplomats is gaining latitude. The aggressive foreign policy adopted by the Vajpayee Government after the Pokhran nuclear tests and its coming out in flying colours, did demoralise the Pakistani leadership. Moreover, the splendid performance of the Indian cricket team against Pakistan too ended the Pakistani superiority myth. All hopes of peace depend on India's strength. Goodwill and noble ideals should play second fiddle in international relations. But, in the ultimate analysis, what matters is the national interest.
It is said cinema holds a mirror to society. But in India, it is more a vehicle of dominant ideology-Leftist in orientation and allegedly liberal in outlook. It is more an instrument of a 'select few'. Indian media in general and cinema in particular needs to abstain from projecting any dominant ideology and the temptation to wear the veil of political correctness.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-04-2004
The problem is partly due to media, and largely due to the Hindu population.
For example, take the case of USA. Here you make an anti-US movie, and you can kiss all your profits good bye. In India some @$$ makes an anti-Hindu movie and everyone starts rushing to the theatres as if there's no tomorrow. Where is the pride of the Hindus?
Some 2 cent #$%^* comes and makes an anti-Hindu movie and everyone, except 2 people, take it easy as if nothing happened. It was only Kamal Hassan n' Nana Patekar who had the guts to say it on Hakla Khan's face: <b>You are making an anti-Indian/Hindu movie, and I'm not gonna be a part of it.</b> For those who don't know about the particular Hindu character in question (in this movie) it was first offered to Kamal Hassan n' Nana Patekar but both refused saying it was an anti-Indian movie.
If Hindus don't stand up for their faith the commies, the pinkos, the anti-nationalists, the mullahs........no one would.
Bollywood And Propaganda - acharya - 06-16-2004
UP
Bollywood And Propaganda - Bhootnath - 06-16-2004
> The problem is partly due to media, and largely due to the Hindu population.
I think a good answer may lie in understanding why "Macualy...tion (spl?)" succeeded.
Few things to keep in mind is, not everybody has access/time/inclination/resources to follow alternate media and opinions. If compared to "me" , they have better things to do definetly <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->Therefore many who follow single src get bombarded daily by disguised but similar set of propaganda ( check out the roots of this word - interesting one )
Let me take example of NDTV of Pranay Roy, many a ppl watch that channel because it gives them sense of belonging and hence they are likely to conclude HINDUTVA=BAD.
There was a show REALITY-BITES by Barkha Bhatt in Mumbai in some Art Center ( means domaintion of leftist ) , topic of Discussion was abt "shld Pakistan be named as enemy in Indian movies ( it amounted to this ), Participant were JAVED AKHTAR , MAHESH BHAT, ANIL PANDIT , ANIL SHARMA ( one of the Anil is a Pseudo and sucker of Mullah Bhat and one is not , which one is which I dont know , )
Crowd was 50% Muslim+Leftist (Art/media/writer) other 50% convent educated Hindus + Vadaa Paav Hindus.
Barkha : shld pakistan be named as enemey
Later 50% say yes
Then Javed Akhtar+Barkha Bhat+Anil (? ) run down other Anil for "GADDAR", how it creates bad taste in Pakistan
JA tried to prove is mettle - saying GADDAR Anil has every right to produce what he wished but still it sld be better if he had not.
JA then did better - I dont agree/like what GADDAR'S Anil say , but I will defend to my death his (ANIL's) right to expressiion <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->)MB - Pakistan bashing is bad .. Hindutvaa is behind it .. ( I think somebody from NIMHANS Banaglore shld check him up .. oops NDTV has a connection there too ..Nupur Basu's hubby is in NIMHANS - another story ..)
MB - ( to later 50% crowed ) "shame on you , you guys are educated , you cant think for yourself , jingoism is bad ..
So same message, different words, Barkha kept on interrupting GADDAR's Anil .. yes you made your point .. yes Mahesh what were you saying. As she usually does.
End of program nearing , Barkha to ppl:
So how many think its okay to name Pakistan in movies , only Vadda Paav Hindu slowly raises hands!
Convent Hindu ( Hindus raised with Christian values ) suddenly had ARRIVED on the BRAVE NEW SECULAR PLATFROM <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> and stood along with MB/JA/comiess ppl.ANIL ( GADDAR fella ) last comments - I will take care abt such thing henceforth, anyway my next movie is abt Indo-Paki youth LOVE AFFAIR!..
Imagine the sub-consicous impact of this POGROM on ppl who watch NDTV ...
No wonder NDTV Class will deny their Hinduness normally , but will retort with "I AM A PROUD HINDU TOO!" when WHITE SKINNED Francois Gautier.. tells us to think before choosing a WHITE SKINNED PM!
And similar tricks are played week after week!
Bollywood and Media are in SYNC with each other.
Mahesh Bhatt is a Terrorist Sympathiser.
I considers Bombay Police WORSE they underworld.
If somebody kills Mahesh Bhatt may be I will have a reason to drink which I have given up!, BUT I DONT BELIEVE IN VIOLENCE NOR ADVOCATE VIOLENCE ( did I sound like Javed Akhtar <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->!> If Hindus don't stand up for their faith the commies, the pinkos, the anti-nationalists, the mullahs........no one would.
I never saw GADDAR , how many you have seen GADDAR and think its HINDUTVA movie pls let me know.
Bollywood And Propaganda - ramana - 06-16-2004
In pre-Independence era both national and regional cinema made films in the following themes - historical and social. After Partition Hindi cinema suffered an exodus of talented artistes to Pakistan but also saw a national resurgence. Three great actors made their mark - Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. All made films with a national purpose - integration, social reform while providing entertainment. The Indian film heroines started belonging to the majority population as working in films lost its stigma of an earlier age. The sixties saw the rise of the patriotic films like Haqeeqat and Upkar. Hum Dono was the only major film dealing with war and its consequences. The late sixties and the seventies saw the effect of criminals financing films. Most of the angry young man films of that age tried to rationalize criminal behavior. Most would depict smuggled goods as props to expose the masses to such merchandise. This period started seeing the first effects of the Film Institute of Poona graduates who started making movies exposing social evils in the rural areas. The Film Institute graduates made movies with social awareness as a major theme. The eighties and early nineties were a lost era of violent movies. Common themes were the corrupt police and justice system, again rationalizing criminal behavior and undermining existing state institutions. The Mumbai bomb blasts in 1992 and the Sanjay Dutt case revealed the nexus between anti-national criminals like Dawood Ibrahim and prominent film personalities. The trend for antiestablishment and violent movies was put back with Hum Apke Hain Kaun and its imitators - Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hain etc. As a result of globalization, the industry is now making sappy movies with deracinated actors trying to appeal to the NRI / urban RNI crowds. Having seen Hum Tum last night is an example of a movie copied from Hollywood and not indianized sufficiently. The industry is caught in a vice grip of the criminals who want to justify and rationalize their behavior and the Left types who want to reform the society. The promise of peace with Pakistan has brought these two forces together and they are now working to undermine the national security forces. Main Hoon Na has two levels of story. The technical side the stunts are awe inspiring and rank with the best in the world. At the subterranean level there are some themes I found disturbing. First the Army is shown to be indulging in criminal behavior and is tarred with the 'fake encounter' broad-brush stroke. I find that there is a desire to exploit North South divide. The naming of the principal opponent of the peace process with South Indian name is in that mode. As an aside most of the security policy wonks in India are South Indians. There were minor quibbles like the title of the role played by Kabir Bedi- Commander -in-Chief went out with the British. But a major quibble is the accommodating nature of the Army brass for their own. He assigns Shahrukh to provide security cover for his daughter so that Shahrukh can meet up with his lost sibling and stepmother. This smacks of abuse of privilege. So there is a subtle undermining of the state institutions whether intentional or not is not clear yet. In summing up there are trends in Bollywood of a subtle and not so subtle campaign to undermine Indian state institutions. Manoj Kumar would stand no chance in today's Bollywood.
Forty years ago the US faced similar situation when Hollywood was in the grip of the veterans of the Spanish Civil War and Ronald Reagan stood up and helped re-orient the priorities. When will an Indian Ronald Reagan emerge in Bollywood?
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
The solution is 100% boycott of bollywood.
Bollywood is the repository of all immoral values which are detrimental to our spiritual growth.
Morality is the bedrock of Hinduism. It is what has enabled us to survive so long.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
ramana ,
Excellent, well summarize post.
I remember watching Balraj Sahwaneyâs very old movie (canât recall title). In movie Balraj want to meet Babu (south India), he give Rs 2 to a guard (Pathan/Punjabi) to get his work done which will be split with babu. Whole scene reflected or promoted couple of issue-
-It is okay to give bribe when you want to speed up work.
-Bribe giving style (sneaking Rs in side pocket and taker will give happy smile) became popular or still popular. Now it is still common to see in trains or Airport.
-Punjabi/North Indians are bold in asking bribe.
-South Indian babus are corrupt but use North Indians to do bad deeds.
-Without bribe government officials canât perform duty.
In new era movies, western dresses, body movement and heavy use of British or US flag are promoting western values or making people comfortable with west or colonizing 1 billion minds.
Raw violence, basically use of swords and chaining had reached to a level, after some time Indians will not react to these type of violence at all. There is no rating for such movies.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
mitradena,
If you are in US buy one or two copy of movies and donate it to local library. Atleast 500 less people will buy DVD or will visit theater. Bollywood gets its revenue from NRI. I have sent letter to FCC to rate Indian movies. There is no rating for crude violence, language and sex in movies from India which are sold to anyone. 95% New Indian movies falls under Adult rating coz of language, sex, violence.
Please send letter to state authority for rating. This may discourage this nonsense in movies.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
The solution is to change the culture within the house first.
I have done that within my house. First there was a lot of resistance, but due to persistance I have changed the culture in my house. No one watches any movies in my house now. It is no longer part of our activities. We have plenty of other things to do.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
Read the latest India Abroad. It has pretty good fifth anniversary issue on Kargil with interviews, pictures etc. There's a interview of some medal winner who's asked the question - what do you do after you shoot the Paki soldier? He responds, by saying '<i>after we shoot him, we pee on him</i>'.
Asked why, he responds '<i>that's what Paki soliders to do to our soldiers</i>'
But we have LOC showing something different.
There's real life and then there's reel life. Understanding the difference is important.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I never saw GADDAR , how many you have seen GADDAR and think its HINDUTVA movie pls let me know.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think it is more like SIKH VS MUSLIM movie, hindutva has nothing to do with this!!!!
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
Viren,
The problem is very few people have the guts to show the real deal. Even Dutta backed off on showing Saurav Kalia's torture for 20 days in LOC. And look what Anil Sharma (Gadar's Director) had to go through, as per Bhootnath's post.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
The problem is that many members of respectable upper class families in India are worshiping the bollywood actors like gods.
They need to first examine the caliber of these actors.
They are after all a bunch of loafers, street urchins and prostitutes.
Members of respectable families need to seriously consider what kind of cheap people they are showing as role models to their children.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
Now there is a new trend of social engineering thru Bollywood movies and prime time serials. Majority of them revolve around promoting following with shocking solutions.
-Pre martial sex is okay.
-It is okay to be unmarried mother.
-Extra-martial affair with office colleague is okay.
-16 year girl became pregnant with her uncle, serial gave solution by showing mother taking her own daughter to abortion clinic and blamed everything on her husbandâs rigid attitude.
-In inter religion marriage, Hindus are shown rigid and Christians are moderate.
-Lesbian based movie, I can bet they will show Hindu girls as lesbians.
mitradena,
After seeing Devdas, I have decided not to watch any Hindi movie, I think it is now over 2plus years. Waste of time and money.
I want to see LOC and Dhoop but so fed up with Bollywood movie I think it will take another 1+ year to see these 2 movies.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
Mudy, I stopped watching hindi movies too - long ago. <b>But you must not miss LoC</b>. It is one patriotic movie in a sea of mediocrity and pak-kissing. It is not a great movie as far as direction goes, but you will feel proud to be sharing the same nationality as the fallen and other IA heroes.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
I wonder, given the role of Musleem Gangstas in Bwood, if most movies are merely produced to entertain these lusty criminals. It is a safeway for them to hoodwink the shariat's axe and enjoy carnal excesses. There is great asymmetry to my subjective eye in Bw. Lead male heros are typically Muslim and heroins are typically of Hindu parentage. I wonder if this results in an unhealthy secular attitude amongst young girls. At least my classmates in school and college showed this in the 1990s. I realized within my first few month in India that Bwood creates powerful stereotypes amongst Indian girls. My good friends used to laugh at me as why I did not have the posters of any these stupid heros on my walls. They even thought I was "strange" because of that <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->Many of these girls went and watched bolly movies on weekends <b>with their parents </b> <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo--> . My parents would be shocked by such a waste of time. Also I feel that this emphasis on Bolly heros affected the healthy entertainment of girls in my generation. Many evenings we all gather together and sit an chat about these movies. Since I did not know much I was gradually marginalized, which was much to my good I realized for I could concentrate on more useful things.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Hauma Hamiddha - 06-17-2004
<!--QuoteBegin-Rajita Rajvasishth+Jun 16 2004, 06:17 PM-->QUOTE(Rajita Rajvasishth @ Jun 16 2004, 06:17 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> Since I did not know much I was gradually marginalized, which was much to my good I realized for I could concentrate on more useful things. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
1 % run the show, 4 % assist in it and the rest are sheep. The sheep will always get influenced by what they see/hear/read (if they do read). The 1% barely have time to do any of these things because they reached in that 1 % by dint of doing these things (see/hear/read - and most importantly, think) at the right time. The lefties and their assorted anti-national bunch try to get those middle 4 % because from among them will come the future 1%.
What has all this pontification to do with bw and propaganda? There are a bunch of smart people who may watch bw stuff for varied interests - timepass mostly, may be some prurient interests (I lived in hostels for 7 years <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> ) but do not get influenced by the bilge on display.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Guest - 06-17-2004
On another note, what will happen to the Lion of Punjab, the true Son of India - the mighty Sunny Deol with all this cloying India- Paki bhai bhai rubbish.
He will be out of work <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Sunny kicked a lot of Paki arse in numerous movies and is the specialist of anti-Paki movies.
Border, Gadar, Indian, Maa Tujhe Salaam, The Hero etc. etc. - he tore the Paki's ga@#$d in all these movies.
I read somewhere that he is the most hated figure in Pukistan.
That makes him the beloved of all true nationalist movie-goers in India.
I hope they still make movies which arouse patriotism in young boys - movies which Sunny Deol is a master in.
Bollywood And Propaganda - Bhootnath - 06-17-2004
rammana > When will an Indian Ronald Reagan emerge in Bollywood?
Sometimes I feel Jayalalitha has that extra something, wish she was a Nationnal Party leader .