Bollywood And Propaganda

[Guest]

Patronising Secularism: Watching Dev Through Muslim Eyes : Farah Naqvi


<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><i>Hamlavar ban kar aaye the, badshah ban kar raaj kiya ab gaddar ban kar aish karna chahte hain (they came here as invaders, ruled like kings, and now want to have a good time as traitors), declares Om Puri, 'the bad cop' in Dev about Muslims. </i>As my (Muslim) friend and I cringe in the darkness of the cinema hall in Ahmedabad, the titter of laughter which greets this grotesque description hits us. It's the way people laugh at an inside joke. 'We' are on the outside. Nothing has changed in Gujarat.


The lines are sharply drawn. And so, we watch the rest of the film, feeling very much like two 'Muslims', surrounded by a sea of tittering 'Hindus' whose first instinct — sympathise with the paranoid Muslim-hater Om Puri — is only gradually won over by the secular moral narrative of the Hindu hero Dev (played by Amitabh Bachchan). But even this is a sad, compromised victory. For what Dev peddles is 'soft' secularism, the preferred parivar version of Gujarat 2002.

Dev is about Gujarat. Make no mistake about it. Ignore Govind Nihalani's protests that his film is 'really' about Mumbai, Meerut, Bhiwadi and every other riot in the country. (That the location of the film is Mumbai rather than Gujarat is a matter of irrelevant detail.)

The 'meaning' of a film is determined by its context, by how its audiences choose to 'read' it. Certainly in Gujarat, perhaps elsewhere too, Dev is being 'read' as the film version of the events of February-March 2002. And to those events Nihalani has done a grave injustice. For those events were not a riot, by any stretch of the imagination. They were a one-sided massacre. And Muslims were a cowering herd, not a violent mob. Yet, Dev has scenes of Muslim mobs retaliating, daring to torch Hindu shops (an acceptable version of events — communal violence as a clash between two 'equal' enemies). Far worse, Nihalani reinforces the action-reaction justification for the carnage. (The burning of the Sabarmati coach at Godhra and the killing of the kar sevaks is here substituted by a motorcycle bomb which kills devotees at a Ganesh temple.)

While the true facts of Godhra remain a mystery (which we hope our new and esteemed railway minister will soon unravel), Nihalani does not engage with such bothersome detail. In his version, an evil Muslim don is responsible for the bomb blast which begins the cycle of revenge-massacre of Muslims. It's all justified. The final approval comes from the mouth of Dev himself, the moral exemplar, the police officer with a conscience who embodies the secular spirit of 'Indian (Hindu) nation'. When Farhan, an angry young Muslim played by Fardeen Khan, tells Dev to stop offering sympathy when the latter's hands are tainted with the blood of Muslims, a furious Dev reminds his misguided Muslim friend of the Ganesh temple bomb blast, par is saare fasad ki jad kya thi ? (What started it all?) Tab kiske haath khoon se range the?" (Whose hands were tainted with blood then?) he asks.

The audience hums in approval. Farhan is silenced. Godhra as the cause for Gujarat 2002 (the fasad ki jad ) is upheld. Dev invokes the 'liberal' sentiment: "It was truly terrible to kill so many Muslims, but really that burning at Godhra was so grizzly and somehow 'they' always seem to start it all..." Not only are Muslims blamed for the carnage, they are responsible for catalysing pretty much anything bad which happens in the film. Even when Muslims refuse to lodge FIRs despite being raped and pillaged, the fault lies with one of them — the Muslim don-leader has instructed them not to. (Anyone who has stood in Gujarat's police stations and watched a hostile police blatantly refuse to lodge any complaints from Muslim survivors will fume at Nihalani's storyline).

At another level, Dev is a narrative about an Indian nation whose salvation lies in soft, patronising secularism. The upright police officer mouths platitudes about the samvidhan or Constitution. He will not violate the samvidhan at the behest of the wicked CM, he declares time and again, with portraits of Gandhi-Nehru prominent in the backdrop. It would be fine if things stopped here. But his secularism is made greater, its generosity even more generous, because he has ample reason not to worry too much about the samvidhan . Dev lost his young son to a terrorist's bullets. (The religious affiliation of the terrorist is never specified. Nihalani leaves it to our imagination.) In this, Dev is India, a nation wounded by Muslim terrorists. Yet, Dev is magnanimous enough to embrace all religions in his secular person. Secularism, the narrative seems to suggest, is not a matter of right but of patronage by a large-hearted and forgiving nation-state. Indeed, so great and inclusive is this secularism, that Dev even begins to see Farhan as his dead son, wooing him away from the influence of Muslim don Latif.

Finally, Farhan sees the truth. Only in accepting the moral leadership of Dev, the high secular Hindu, can the Muslim community get justice and salvation. Farhan (read as legitimate Muslim anger) is neutralised. Long live secularism.

Dev is insidious. It takes one of the most brutal communal carnages in modern India, and seeks to resolve its dilemmas by resorting to stereotyped image-making about Muslims, distorting the events of Gujarat, and peddling a watered-down, patronising version of the secular principle. At best, it's another offensive film but one whose secularism will appeal to far too many people. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

************************************************

My response (never published):

Farahji,

What I find biased and disgusting in your article is the one-sided view of yours. You are trying to pass on the whole blame for Gujarat on Hindus by saying they were kar sevaks (in italicized) so a fair target, without blaming those muslims who burned alive those 60 Hindus on board the Sabarmati Express. There were many babies and women among those. If you can ignore those Hindu deads, then you have no right to blame Govind Nihalani under your pseudo-secularism agenda.

Secularism goes both ways, it's not a one way street. If you cannot be secular enough, then don't complain why Hindus aren't secular. You change first....then we will do. Till then keep whinning about your pseudo-secism.....which is no more than a joke. People with an iota of intelligence can see your biased views. Do not doubt your readers IQ.

Jai Hind!

************************************************

For those of you who haven't seen it, please do so. This is a really great movie on contemporary politics. Even though you see Farahji complaining here, the movie still steers towards p-secism.

[Guest]

Krishna,

When people say that
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->While the true facts of Godhra remain a mystery ...<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
don't expect much.

There are people who believe that WTC towers are still standing - not much you can argue when the so called 'educated' start believing and writing this.

[acharya]

Ms. Naqvi's is not a fair review. It is patently false that "Dev" depicts communal violence as between two equals: the unequal nature of the contest is illustrated by the fact that whereas the unscrupulous Muslim politician/gangster is ultimately taken away by the police, Milind Gunaji's Hindutvawaadi has to be released in a few hours, and returns home to loud cheers; more graphically, the scenes of Muslims burning and attacking Hindu-owned shops last for barely a minute, a fraction of the footage devoted to Sanghi hordes ravaging a Muslim mohalla. Nor is it only a question of footage, but of the KIND of images shown: the Muslim goons are shown ransacking shops and assaulting people, the Sanghi goons are shown stabbing, burning, raping, etc. To put it another way, Ms. Naqvi's problem is not with "Dev" so much as with the Ahmedabad audience. That the latter buys into Khosla's ideology does not make the film communal in some ultimate sense.

Ms. Naqvi is criticizing the film for not being secular in the liberal sense, but that is simply not Nihalani's concern; HIS focus seems to be: "EVEN IF you dislike/fear/despise the Muslim, what then?" It is not that Nihalani is propagating the sort of patronising secularism that has become the hallmark of India today (as Ms. Naqvi claims), it is that secularism is not the subject of "Dev" at all! It speaks volumes about how much the discourse of "secularism" (read: good) has colonized the political space that anything that is not secular is dismissed as "bad" or even sinister. Now, the reaction in the Ahmedabad cinema hall Ms. Naqvi is talking about IS sinister, but that is not because the people who were tittering were not secular, but because they appear to be viciously bigoted, and seem to be unable to regard difference as anything other threatening. To impose a "secularist" framework on what is patently a meditation on what happens to Hinduism in the face of Hindutva, and then to complain if the clothes don't fit, is hardly fair.

In the world of "Dev," there will be no Hindu dharma left if the Khoslas of the age hold sway-- the targeting of Muslims in "Dev" is thus not just the killing of innocents (thought it is manifestly that), it is ALSO the losing of one's soul, a fratricide that ends in a suicide.

[And lest I be accused of playing fast and loose with the film, I submit that my reading is firmly grounded in the film's text. Consider the following:

i. The film begins with a sloka from the Gita, explicitly evokes the Gita at numerous points, and in the pivotal scene between Dev and Furhan towards the end, Bachchan's dialogues seem to be paraphrases of Krishna's words to Arjun.

ii. Dev is the most devout person in the film (Furhan's father probably comes in second); Dev is regularly shown praying, Khosla not even once. Furhan himself, who takes it upon himself to avenge his father's death by killing Dev, is the arch-secularist, not religiously inclined at all, his face "un-marked" by beard, etc., but most importantly he is "secular" in his desire for retribution in the world, the political sign of which is that he cares more for his "qaum" than his God (whom he never mentions or involkes at any point in the film);

iii. The most memorable instance of prayer in the film belongs to Mangal Rao (played by Milind Gunaji), right before he embarks on his pogrom, when he TURNS HIS BACK ON GOD after completing his prayer--]

iv. As for the point about Muslims needing "broad minded" Hindus like Dev to make their case for them, let us accept certain facts: if the opposition to Hindutva were coming only from the 10-12% of the population classified as Muslim, and the 2-3% classified as Christian, then the game would have been lost a long time ago. The fact is that there are plenty of non-Muslims and non-Christians in India who are also resisting Hindutva. It is also sad but true that ABSENT Hindutva-resisting-Hindus, the anti-Hindutva struggle would take on simply a communal hue (this helps to explain how and why, when confronted with Hindus who are opposed to Hindutva, the Sangh resorts to outlandish theories of how such people are really anti- Hindu Marxists, that they are "self-loathers" or "Macaulayputras" or what not). Indeed I submit that the day opposition to Hindutva simply becomes a question of whether is Hindu or not, that is the day Hindutva will have triumphed in its long-term goal: of defining "Hindu" and "Hinduism" so that it is co-extensive with "Hindutva" and with the ideology of the Sangh

There is yet another reason why Dev speaks "for" Muslims in a sense, and Nihalani makes it explicit in the film, when Mangal Rao threatens Latif (the Muslim gangster/politician) that post-violence, if he and "his people" want to stay in "this country and this town," they will have to observe certain rules: (i) No-one is to complain about ill-treatment by Hindus; (ii) No-one is to file complaints against any Hindu who participated in the violence; (iii) No-one is to cooperate with any policy inquiry, media person, etc. Dev "speaks for" the Muslims in the film not because Nihalani has made a patronizing film, but because, as we are reminded everyday from Gujarat, the position of Muslims has become very tenuous where Hindutva reigns supreme.

v. Ms. Naqvi ignores the very last scene of the film, when it is Furhan Ali who is ascending the steps of the courthouse, with Dev's report in hand. At that point no-one is speaking "for" him, certainly not Dev. Ultimately this is an optimistic end no doubt (the embittered Furhan Ali decides to take up the cause in a legal way, abandoning the path of the gun), and perhaps this is unpalatably reassuring to Ms. Naqvi. Fine, one could certainly read it that way, but I think it is difficult to square that resolution (the Furhan Alis of Bombay setting aside their alienation and using the Constitution as their bulwark to speak for themselves and demand justice) with the notion that Muslims in the film can be spoken-form by the likes of Dev. One may critique the former for being too re- assuring, but not for being the latter.]

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-mitradena+Jun 17 2004, 12:04 AM-->QUOTE(mitradena @ Jun 17 2004, 12:04 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> 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. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I totally agree with you sir!

Only Hindi movie I watched in well over a decade was LOC.

I do not intend to watch another Hindi movie till they come up with a good movie like LOC.

I can not believe how people can waste two hours from their busy schedule to see a moran like Sharuh Khan dance on the screen.

[Guest]

Kumar,

Then you must watch Lakshya, even better than LOC.

[Guest]

All right sridhar, now you are talking <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->

I am game!

I will go to erosentertainment.com and see if I can place an order for DVD.

[ramana]

<b>Indian cinema: A reel-by-reel account </b>
Invaluable trivia, splendid packaging and some great photographs, ranging from rare discoveries from the archives to stunning pictures of contemporary times, make The Bollywood Saga engrossing reading both for nostalgia seekers and new converts to the incredible charm of Hindi cinema, says Chandan Mitra

What makes cinema in India so different from the rest of the world is that watching a movie here is a collective experience, and also part of everybody's growing up process. Arguably things are changing now, especially in the metros with the setting up of multiplexes and the loosening of parental taboos about children watching "morally corrupting" Bollywood fare.

Many of today's parents, indeed even some grandparents, grew up in a milieu where one had to bunk classes and save from meagre pocket money to watch the latest Hindi blockbuster. Nowadays, this is no longer the preponderant reality and family viewing is very much in vogue especially in the aftermath of colour television, movie channels, the on-its-way-out VCR and the recent advent of DVD.

Going through Ismail Merchant's introduction to Dinesh Raheja and Jitendra Kothari's masterly work, The Bollywood Saga, revived memories of the joie de vivre that was associated with watching Hindi movies in my own childhood. I don't remember which film I first watched in a cinema hall, but I do remember halls being sweaty, uncomfortable places with wooden seats in the only "affordable" rows in front and noisy fans whirring overhead often drowning the crackling sound emanating from faulty loudspeakers. Much of my own growing up years were spent in small towns like Hooghly which boasted only two adjacent halls, Kairi Talkies and Rupali, and Barbil in Orissa which had just one.

The hall in Barbil had wooden chairs and viewers would often arrange them in semi-circles so that they could volubly exchange views on whatever unfolded on screen. Tea and jhalmuri vendors moved about freely and people lit up beedies with merry abandon. It wasn't possible for smalltowners like me in the mid-60s to visualise what a PVR would look like some day.

I can heartily recommend Raheja-Kothari's latest offering to all aficionados of Hindi cinema, those who have loved this genre for the sheer joy it brought to our lives. They are masters of story-telling and their passion for trivia makes this volume compelling reading. In this book, they have solved what was a big mystery to me all these years. I often wondered how cinema became popular in India even during the age of silent films for the dialogue would appear as a sub-title. Considering that even today, nearly 30 per cent of Indians can't read and write, how did ordinary people in the 1920s (when the literacy rate was around 20 per cent), manage to follow the scripted dialogue?

This volume informs us that silent movies had their own story-tellers in every auditorium. A man would stand at a corner in front of the screen, megaphone in hand, shouting out the dialogue as it appeared in each scene! The authors also quote music director Naushad recalling how music was introduced into cinema. Apparently, musicians sat before the screen and played the harmonium, tabla, accordion and other such instruments to match the mood of the scene being enacted! That, Naushad points out, marked the evolution of background music in Indian films. It is impossible not to raise a toast to the sheer genius of the pioneers of the Indian film industry; it's no wonder that today it is the world's biggest.

Reading about the placing of a live orchestra in front of the screen brought back memories of the time when there used to be a raised platform, like a dais in every movie hall. I realised this while organising the premiere of Manoj Kumar's Roti, Kapda aur Makaan way back in 1974 in my capacity as secretary of the St Stephen's College Students' Union Society. In charge of arrangements, I had to visit Chanakya theatre in Delhi to identify the position from which then Vice-President, BD Jatti, would inaugurate the show.

To my surprise, I found a narrow aisle in front of the giant screen that could be accessed from a side door. The microphone was placed on the "stage" and the luminaries gave brief speeches from there. Film premieres were relatively staid affairs those days, since there were no TV channels or page threes to report such events. Still, people paid up to Rs 500 for a ticket, just to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars.

Having reviewed the Raheja-Kothari duo's earlier authoritative work, Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema, I have no doubt in concluding that they have emerged as the genre's best chroniclers. In this volume, they have introduced a number of snippety subjects - ranging from singing actresses of yesteryear, to notable lyricists of the '50s and '60s, the end of the Mangeshkar monopoly, the vogue for foreign locales, the evolution of the villain and so on. These make for easy reference material although I found the range a bit deficient.

For instance, there is hardly any study of the comedian phenomenon and only a passing reference to Mehmood, pointing out that at one stage he commanded about the same fees as the hero. While Asrani and Jagdeep are mentioned in the context of Sholay, Rajendra Nath of the striped underwear fame, whose very entry on screen would lead to guffaws around the hall, is missing. Similarly, I was surprised to find no reference to KN Singh in the list of villains and more importantly, Anand Bakshi's among songwriters.

The music section too is sketchy for the later years, although the coverage of RC Boral, KC Dey, KL Saigal and Pankaj Mullick is quite extensive and illuminating. The volume is meticulously produced and that's not an easy task when chronicling over 5,000 persons and an equal number of movies. The only slip, and rather a silly one, that I spotted was in a picture caption: A still of the famous Yeh dosti song sequence from Sholay with Dharmendra standing behind Amitabh Bachchan on the motor-bike mistakenly mentions the Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur (Vinod Khanna) instead of the Member of Parliament from Bikaner!

The best part of the work is that it makes engrossing reading both for nostalgia seekers like myself and new converts to the incredible charm of Hindi cinema. Another major attraction is the photographs, ranging from rare discoveries from the archives to stunning pictures of the contemporary multi-colour age. It brings the story of Bollywood right down to the present day. Covering eight decades of cinema without significant lapses amounts to a sterling achievement.

Particularly insightful are the authors' observations on the continuities - a page devoted to analysing the three versions of Devdas is most authoritatively written - that link filmdom's past with the present and leads on to the future. We shall look forward to similarly colourful and attractively designed monographs from Raheja and Kothari in the years to come.

[Guest]

Ramana, any clues where to get this book in the US?

[Guest]

<b>Hindu boy meets Muslim girl on Sabarmati Express to Godhra...Cut!</b>


NEW DELHI: A love story set in Gujarat against the backdrop of the communal violence in 2002 and starring Bollywood star Aamir Khan's brother has run into trouble with the Censor Board. The reason: one of the main characters on screen playing Chief Minister bears an uncanny resemblance to Narendra Modi.

<b>Besides, the Board feels the film, Chand Bujh Gaya, directed by 28-year-old Mumbai-based Sharique Minhaj, is too close to the incidents that took place post-Godhra.</b>

When the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal was approached in April by F A Picture International, the producers, it was shot down again - for the same reasons. Without mentioning Modi by name, the Tribunal shut the door, saying the film resembles “certain real-life personalities.”

<b>Says Tribunal member Rakesh Sinha: “To show communal violence is one thing. To show the Chief Minister of a state perpetrating violence is a serious charge.'' Sinha, incidentally, is the author of a book on former RSS supremo K B Hedgewar and was appointed by former Information and Broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad during the NDA regime.

Starring Aamir Khan's brother Faisal Khan and Shama Sikandar, Chand Bujh Gaya is a 2hr 20min film, which tells the love story of a Muslim girl and a Hindu boy on the Sabarmati Express, speeding towards Godhra. Both die in the communal violence that follows.

“It was not just the violence but also the resemblance a character has with Modi. He not only looks like Modi, he talks and moves like him. The RSS was also being targeted deliberately throughout the film,'' says Sinha.</b>

Minhaj denies the charge saying he has done a “balancing act'' as far as the scenes depicting violence goes. “If there is one incident where minorities are being targeted, the next shows Hindus being attacked,'' he says.

A copy of the Tribunal's observations, made on April 25, reads: <b>“We are of the unanimous opinion that the film is full of gory visuals of violence and gruesome killings. Also certain characters have definite resemblance with real life personalities. Since the appellants are not agreeable to the suggested deletions, the Tribunal is of the opinion that the film, in its present form, will have an adverse impact on the people and may even lead to public disharmony. We have therefore, decided that the film cannot be certified in its present form.''</b>

Says Minhaj, <b>“My film is on communal harmony and I cannot help if a character in the movie who is the chief minister of a state resembles Narendra Modi. Besides, is there a law which prohibits lookalikes from acting?''

Minhaj says he just wanted to do something different. According to him, the Gujarat incidents after Godhra form a significant part of the film and cannot be deleted or simply wished away. His next plan: knock at the court's door. “It's my first film and I want people to see it,''</b> he says.


Source: <b>Hindu boy meets Muslim girl on Sabarmati Express to Godhra...Cut!</b>

[acharya]

To: "IK.Shukla"
Subject:Movies on fascism

Date: 5 Aug 2004



Dear Sir/ Madam


I am an independent documentary filmmaker based in New Delhi, India. Recently I
made a film Godhra Tak: The Terror Trail based on the train-burning incident of
Feb 2002 at Godhra railway station. This is the only film available on this
incident. Godhra incident was used in inciting violence against Muslim in
Gujarat and for its justification also. My film focuses on the Godhra incident
only and tries to find out the truth behind the scene. The film was widely
appreciated for its impartial depiction of the incident and for its
investigative nature. The film is now in use by investigative agency engaged in
probing the incident. I met Laloo Prasad Yadev, the railway minister, and
convinced him to order a probe. Now I want to make a film on Hindu Right wing in
India. It is going to be a one and half-hours long film and will be useful to
expose these organisations real nature. We, by exposing them, can then demand a
ban on them.

We will disseminate it with the help of a distribution network of
non-governmental and voluntary organisations in India as well as in West. Copies
of the film will be available at low rate and we will do every thing possible
for its wider reach. It is a massive project and we will try to project an all
India picture. We need at least one year to complete it and estimated cost of
production will be around 12 lakh Indian rupees. As you know it is very
difficult for big institutional funders to support this kind of projects due to
the politics involved so I am pressed for funds. I have 2 lakh Indian rupees of
my own which I will put in this film. I am in a position to rais around 3 lakh
Indian rupees from various NGO’s in cash or kind. But for rest 7 lakh Indian
rupees I have no clue.

If you or your organisation can help me in this regard then it will be very
nice. PEACE, a New Delhi based NGO having FCRA will be accountable to donors and
can receive funds for this project. Shrikumar Poddar and Maharaj Kaul in USA are
raising funds for this project. They can receive funds on my behalf for
forwarding them to me. Suggestions and information on the subject are welcome.

Looking forward to hear from you soon.
Regards

Shubhradeep Chakravorty
91-11-20530323, 91-11-25086613

Note- Copies of the film Godhra Tak are available for sale.


Film on Hindu Right wing Hindu right wing fundamentalist forces are growing in
strength in India for last couple of decades now. Their influence is increasing
in socio-economic and political spheres but the common understanding about them
and their capability to block the growth of Indian democracy is still poor. To
develop this understanding we need a detailed empirical study and documentation
of these forces at work. The proposed project will try to do this through a one
and half hour long documentary film. We propose to make this as a voice driven
documentary interspersed with interviews. This 90 minutes documentary will be
made of three broad sections, each will be interlinked with the voiceover
maintaining the continuous flow throughout. The documentation of the
developments in approximately ten to twelve new potential centers of conflicts
emerged all around India in last five years would be the basic structure of the
film. Although our main focus in this film would be on the activities of VHP,
Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini but we will also document the resistance they are
facing from secular as well as minority community groups.

The film would also try to document the history of right wing fundamentalist
forces in India and will analyze it in the context of the rise of similar forces
in other parts of the world. The film will start with a section on the history
of Hindu right wing fundamentalist forces in India and our main focus would be
on RSS and its “cultural work”. Here we will try to show how RSS actually works
and for what ends. We will also try to show how they influence and train young
minds and bodies and how it runs and controls a whole family of affiliated
organizations without getting involved in their day to day activities. After
this, in this section itself, we will try to document the changes taken place in
RSS family in eighties when it entered its mass movement phase with Ram temple
movement. In this phase VHP and Bajrang Dal started getting more importance then
other affiliated organizations in RSS scheme of things. To understand the
reasons behind their phenomenal growth and the tactics and strategies adopted by
them during this period we will do a documentation of Ram temple movement. Here
we will show how VHP had actually created a new history of Ayodhya and what they
did to get a foothold in the holy city and to enter the local Sadhu Samaj.

We will also try to find out what is really behind the large scale land purchase
by VHP in Ayodhya and what their master plan is. We will also show how they run
Ram temple movement and who plays important role in it and what they did to
magnify this issue of local importance to create an all India communal divide.
We will also document the resistance they faced from secular as well as minority
community organisations during Ram temple movement. In this section we will also
show the activities of VHP and other organizations abroad. This section will
give us a background of the recent rise of Hindu right wing fundamentalist
forces in India and the ways and means adopted by it. After this brief
introductory section, we will come to the second section. In this section of the
film we will document the developments taking place in approximately ten to
twelve new potential centers of conflict emerging all around India and will
document the role Hindu right wing fundamentalist forces are playing there. Here
we will cover Asind, Dhar, Hubli, Malad etc. We will also show the resistance
they are facing from secular as well as minority community groups in these
centers.

We will try to see these developments in the light of history of Ram temple
movement and will draw conclusions from it. This section will help us in
understanding the real organisational structure of these organizations and their
strategies, tactics, training and indoctrination process, way of functioning and
the real aims and goals. After this section, in the third and final section of
the documentary we will try to understand the Indian developments in the context
of world wide rise of right wing forces, particularly neo-Nazi forces in Europe.
At macro level we will try to show the socio-economic and geo-political aspect
of this rise and at micro level we will try to find out the structural, tactical
and operational similarities between Hindu right wing fundamentalist forces and
neo-Nazi movements in Europe. By this, we feel that the documentary will cover
almost comprehensively the subject under question.

Shubhradeep Chakravorty
New Stream Media
91-11-20530323

[Guest]

I saw Hum Tum. While the movie is alright one scene caught my attention which relates to the general trend.

The Mihir Vora (Jimmy Shergill) character wedding with Diana Fernandes (Isha Koppikar). One would expect that boy being Hindu the wedding would be a Hindu one. Instead it was a christian wedding in a church. I realized after the whole wedding scene was over that there was no reason to show a church wedding because the wedding scene did not add twist or turn to the movie neither did it alter the course of the movie in any meaningful way. The whole wedding could have been replaced with a Hindu wedding without any impact on the story.

It seems these days to be modern, hip, fashionable you must:

- show westernization (wedding rings, talk in english)
- church (heroine with candle, church wedding like in Hum Tum)
- lots of skin fest

The other thing I noticed that all the leading heroines are Hindu including the ones who show lots and lots of skin. Most if not all of those "skin" heroines have justified it saying that "masses want it" and "I'm comfortable with my body" baloney. If you also notice almost all of the skin fest movies bomb at the box office. Also at the the same Paki writers keep harping on "Hindu women like to show their skin" diatribe.

In general lot of Hindu cultural imagery has been drastically reduced on screen in bollywood movies. Not too far earlier (Hum Aapke Hain Koun et al) had lots of Hindu "respect to elders", "bade bhaiyya", "pooja scenes" etc. abundantly displayed in the movie.

I don't know if the de-Hinduization in the movies is due to Dawood pressure because of the money his gang bankrools in bollywood or is it some sub culture aspect where showing all things sacred with Hindus as some kind of backward thing.

One thing is quite clear - the modern day cinema is all about following western culture, candle holding heroine in church type.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I don't know if the de-Hinduization in the movies is due to Dawood pressure because of the money his gang bankrools in bollywood or is it some sub culture aspect where showing all things sacred with Hindus as some kind of backward thing.

One thing is quite clear - the modern day cinema is all about following western culture, candle holding heroine in church type. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sign of slave mind.
Typical soft social engineering on Hindus/Indians.
Inferiority complex among so called elite of Bollywood, till they don’t ape west they are not good.
Best we can do is encourage piracy. Force Adult rating to all movies. Boycott Bollywood movies is best solutuion.

[Guest]

Jammu 'porn queen' gets film offer

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Pandit appealed to the people of Jammu to not fall prey to locals who promised to make their children stars in Bollywood.

He announced that Bollywood was willing to rehabilitate Anara and the likes of her. "I can take her in my production, if she is really talented," he added.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->By Indo-Asian News Service                                                    
                                                                               
                                                                               
Ahmedabad,  March 2 (IANS) "Chand Bujh Gaya" a Hindi feature film based on the
2002  Gujarat  communal  violence  and  which features a splitting likeness of
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is to hit the screens Friday.                   
                                                                               
                                                                               
The  release  of  the  film,  whose  title  translates  as  "The Moon Has Been
Eclipsed",  was delayed by over a year as the Censor Board wanted drastic cuts
in  it  but the Bombay High Court, acting on the producer's appeal, ordered it
to be shown in its entirety.                                                  
                                                                               
                                                                               
<b>The  censor board objected to the fact that the character of the Gujarat chief
minister,  played  by  Pratap  Singh,  was  uncannily  similar  to that of the
original.  </b>                                                                   
                                                                               
                                                                               
The  board  had  also  objected  to explicit references to places like Godhra,
Vadodara  and  Surat,  apart  from several violence-affected neighbourhoods of
Ahmedabad city.                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
Producer  Faaiz  Anwar  then  approached the Bombay High Court, which not only
ordered  the  censor board to pass the film without cuts, but also appreciated
its humanitarian message.                                                     
                                                                           
                                                                               
<b>The  film narrates the love story of a Hindu boy, played by Faisal Khan, and a
Muslim  girl,  Shama Sikander, against the backdrop of the sectarian strife in
the state that claimed more than 1,000 lives, the majority of them Muslims.  </b> 
                                                                               
                                                                               
The  film  <b>also</b>  depicts  the  Godhra  train burning that claimed 59 lives and
sparked the statewide violence.     <i>{Thank god for small mercies}                                     </i>     
                                                                               
                                                                               
"The film is about unity and harmony. We expect a good response from Gujarat,"
director Sharique Minhaj said.  <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Can somebody please explain how muslims watching mughal-e-azam is considered pluralistic ? How showing a courtesan in a court dancing to "nand-laal" in a palace to give the jahanpanah an artistic orgasm is considered secular ? Look how he misses the "golden period" of hindi cinema and how he intends to bring it back..

http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish...6866.shtml

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Cinema & secularism
By Mashesh Bhatt
Mar 14, 2005, 11:16

Man is memory. We are nothing but the sum total of our past. We are never free of the past. Karl Marx was a Christ returning to a modern world. In other words, he was the resurrection of basically the same religious spirit and ideology, although under a different garb, a different language. It could not have been otherwise. For not only Marx but all thinkers cannot help but build their philosophy upon their past. To put it differently, as a very famous French thinker, Jacques Derrida would say, to be means to inherit.

All questions about being or what one is to be or not to be are questions of inheritance. We are inheritors, like it or not. If you read The Road Ahead by Bill Gates, you will see it is more history than prophecy. That is why imagined futures are always more about where we have been than where we are going.

In the year 1951, two years after I was born and much, much before you all were even thought of, Jawaharlal Nehru compelled Purshottam Das Tandon to tender his resignation and took over as president of the Congress. Purshottam Das Tandon had defeated the secular factions of the Congress the year before, to become its president in 1950. In the newly "partitioned" India, Purshottam was a symbol of the communalist and revivalist outlook. Shattered by the irreversible loss of Gandhiji, who had been killed by the bullet of a Hindu fanatic fundamentalist, Nehru had sworn to go for the jugular of the fundamentalists.

At a public meeting in Delhi on Gandhi Jayanti Day in 1951, Nehru proclaimed his secular credo. He said, "If any person raises his hand to strike down another on the ground of religion, I shall fight him till the last breath of my life both as the head of the government and outside." This statement sums up everything that needed to be said about the spirit India and future Indians must have towards secularism. And this spirit was ignited in 1951, by Nehru, the most extraordinary jewel that India ever possessed.

Post-Independence Hindi cinema fashioned its products on this passionately articulated creed of Nehru. A glowing example of this is Dilip Kumar. He is an excellent symbol of secular India. The recent revival of Mughal-e-Azam and its global success proves that the pendulum of public taste has once again swung towards films that celebrate the pluralism and the secular creed of free India and has moved away from movies like Gadar, which in a very subtle manner demonise the Muslims, and not just Pakistan.

The new colour version of Mughal-e-Azam was happily lapped up by children of the current generation. My daughter and my young son were both mesmerised by what our ancestors had achieved in those days, both in spirit and also on the screen. My heart just swells with pride when I watch Mughal-e-Azam. It reminds me of what Bollywood once was. Do you know that this magnum opus was made by an almost all-Muslim crew? It was produced and directed by K. Asif, and it had Madhubala and Dilip Kumar in the main lead. And above all it had Naushad, the music director who's soul resonated with Hindu bhajans. How can India and Indians ever forget 'Mohe panghat pe Nandlal chhed gayo re', a song from Mughal-e-Azam in which the birth of Krishna is being celebrated in the court of Emperor Akbar and in which Madhubala, an actress who is Muslim by birth, dances like Meera?

The phenomenal success of Mughal-e-Azam today has also demonstrated that despite all the efforts of the previous regime to strangulate the secular voice of India, India's secular spirit is very much alive and kicking. Because if this was not so, Mughal-e-Azam wouldn't have been a box office hit.

Recently I was told by the ministry of Information and Broadcasting that Mughal-e-Azam was also screened in the Srinagar Valley, where Hindi movies have not been playing for years. The major bulk of the audience consisted of young people of your age. Now, ever since trouble began in Kashmir, the young people of that region have been violently opposing anything "Indian", even Hindi movies. The cinema hall where the film was now being shown was earlier forced to close shop because no one came to the hall to watch Hindi films. But Mughal-e-Azam had shocked everybody. Not only was it running to packed houses, but all those young people who came to watch the film clapped and applauded all through it. This is the Bollywood that I was born in. This was the Bollywood whose films every Indian right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari watched and loved.

I remember my father, a filmmaker who made more than 100 films. Many of these films were based on The Arabian Nights fantasies. Now my Dad was a Brahmin but despite that, surprisingly, he knew more about Islam and the Islamic culture. My mother was a Shia Muslim. I remember after finishing her namaaz she would tell us, my brother, my sister and me, tales from Hindu mythology. These stories still resonate in my heart. One of these stories was effectively put to use by me in my film Raaz. The climax of Raaz was sourced from a tale my mother told me about Savitri and her fight with the Lord of death, Yama, to bring her husband back to life from the jaws of death.

The Bollywood that I grew up on had jewels like Sahir saab (Ludhianvi). Sahir saab is the greatest lyricist Bollywood has ever known. He is a Muslim who decided to stay in a secular India after Partition. The most enduring bhajan of all times, 'Allah tero naam, Ishwar tero naam' was written by this extraordinary poet. Even a great filmmaker like Guru Dutt worked with people like Kaifi Azmi and Abrar Alvi. Chaudvin Ka Chand, produced by him and directed by M. Sadiq, is the best film made against the backdrop of Lucknow and the Muslim tehzeeb (culture). Most Hindu filmmakers of those times made these films dealing with the Muslim culture without any self-consciousness. They made these films because that culture was a part of them. The filmmakers of those days had the best of both cultures in them - no wonder that age is called the golden age of Hindi cinema.

I remember the last scene of Ganga Jamuna in which Dilip Kumar dies saying "He Ram". Most people who saw the film then felt that the reverence with which this Muslim actor had uttered He Ram reminded them of Gandhi's last moments. Cinema goers imagined this was how the Mahatma must have died. However, Ganga Jamuna faced severe problems when it was seen by members of the censor board. Some board members who had communal leanings wanted to delete this very scene saying that they could not have a Muslim saying "He Ram". In spite of being secular to the core, Dilip saab faced many problems from both within the community and outside it. He was the prime target of all those people who had designs to revive the religion of the majority and destroy the pluralism of India. But Dilip saab did not bow down to these forces. He stuck to his guns and remained a symbol of secularism for all of us.

Recently I ran into Subhash Ghai and our conversation, after having spoken about the current state of Bollywood and what we should to do to stay afloat, slowly turned to the topic of Dilip Kumar and the need to immortalise him and put him on film because the man should be given his rightful due in history. He has been a reluctant icon because of which a lot of bogus icons have been enshrined on the altar. Dilip saab is a symbol of secularism; all his life he in fact echoed what Nehru spoke of. It was very moving to see a man like Subhash Ghai, otherwise known only for masala films, dedicate himself to make a documentary that would outlive this legend. I had begun my career as an assistant director with the great filmmaker, Mr. Raj Khosla, with a film called Do Raaste, a box office hit. The film contained a sympathetic portrayal of a Pathan played by Jayant.

Now, this was a device commonly used in most Hindi films. Most of these roles were ineffective since they were insensitively projected on the screen. But some producer-directors who came from the North and who had lived with the Muslims there and enjoyed their hospitality and warmth portrayed these Muslim characters on film brilliantly. Do Raaste became a very big hit because of this noble Muslim character. A great scholar of Indian music said to me recently, "You know, the difference between Indian music and Indian film is that Indian filmmakers did not portray secularism and pluralism as brilliantly as the music directors and the lyric writers did." Somewhere, our Indian filmmaker was very simplistic, he did it as the politician does - Hindu-Muslim bhai-bhai, using the 'hugging each other, making tremendous sacrifices for each other' formula. But it was in fact the music directors and the lyric writers in whose hearts were crucibles from where the pluralism that we keep talking about poured in and they made those wonderful tunes and songs. Ultimately music seeks to evoke some emotion in you. The ghazals and the tradition of thumris, and khayaals, the complete mixture of tehzeebs is what India is all about and that was what they portrayed through our music. I remember when I was growing up, my father made a film called Mr. X with a rock and roll number called 'Lal lal gaal' - a number that was a huge hit. This shows how much the Christian influences contributed to the success of our Hindi films in those days. Helen, a Christian by birth, was the heartthrob of the nation. She cast her spell on the people of India for almost two decades.

I began my career in the year 1973 but came into the limelight with films like Arth, Saaransh, Naam and Janam. Most of these films were sourced from one's own life. They were autobiographical. But it took a tragedy like the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the subsequent bloodshed of innocent Muslims on the streets of Mumbai to hurl me into my hidden past and make my last directorial film, Zakhm.

I came from the home of a Hindu Brahmin father and a Muslim mother and had the good fortune of being educated by Christian missionaries. It is because of them that I can stand here before you and speak in the language that I speak. The demolition of the Babri Masjid made me realise the naked truth that what is personal is political. When Mumbai burnt, I recalled that I too was subjected to a lot of humiliation by those very forces that were now unleashing their wrath against the minorities. When I was a child my paternal grandmother, who was a Hindu fundamentalist, had spared no opportunity to brutalise my mother and me simply because my mother was a Muslim. After having found dizzying success and after making senseless and meaningless movies, the time had now come to make the defining film of my career.

(To be continued)

© Copyright 2003 by The New Nation<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

My wife will thrash Suhaib, says Shakti
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Shakti also doesn't rule out political vendetta, since he campaigned for the Congress during the Lok Sabha polls last year. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
All Congressi movie stars are supporting him except Preety Zinta.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Shakti insists he will bounce back: "Everyone is with me and the whole film industry is going to teach Mr Illiyasi a lesson. Many, including Pehlaz Nihlani, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda and Rinku are on my side and we will soon sue those responsible for such wrong deeds."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Poor soul, even his mother Sonia is staying away <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>CONG TRIES TO STEER CLEAR </b>
New Delhi
Congress distanced itself from the sleaze allegedly involving actor Shakti Kapoor who campaigned for the party in the polls, saying all those who supported the party were not its leaders or even a member. "There are people who campaign for the party but are not given leadership role...When they campaign, they are not leaders or may not even be a member of the party," party spokesman Anand Sharma said. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bollywood, or ruin?

The demand that the government should allow Indian movies to be screened in Pakistani cinemas is not new. But new developments give it a fresh impetus, including the latest warming up of bilateral ties. The most pressing reason for Pakistani cinemas to show Bollywood films is that failing this move, the cinemas face rapid extinction. Many in Karachi have already been demolished and replaced with shopping plazas or wedding halls. Lahore faces the same fate as cinema houses on Abbot Road offer their compounds as parking space to make ends meet and others like the historic Ritz on the nearby McLeod Road face demolition.

Cinema owners argue that their business is terminally threatened if nothing is done about it. They have given a strike call for April 2 to protest what they call an inadequate supply of quality movies made locally, and a proliferation of cable networks telecasting whatever the market asks for with impunity and without any regard for the official ban on foreign flicks. The only way to salvage the situation, they say, is permission to screen Bollywood movies.

Without a large network of cinemas, no film industry can thrive no matter how much protection it enjoys -- another compelling reason to acquiesce to the cinema owners' demand. In any case, the easy availability of Indian movies in the local markets and through cable networks makes a mockery of the ban and the cultural invasion argument.

It also makes sound economic, cultural and political sense to expect that a Bollywood looking to do well in Pakistan's large film market will have to take into account Pakistani sensibilities, besides employing local resources and workforce to make its films relevant for local audiences.

Most importantly, the move may bring the Pakistani audiences back to cinemas leading to an improvement in the conditions of movie theatres and halting their impending demise for good. Who will not want to watch the classic (re-done in colour) Mughal-e-Azam on full screen, if and when it is allowed at cinemas in Lahore or Karachi? Instead, expect full houses for many weeks.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Hedgewar documentary stuck in censor board:</b>
[World News]: Mumbai, Mar.12 : Anything anti-Congress will find it difficult to see the light of the day. While there are couples of blatantly anti-establishment feature films waiting to be cleared, a documentary on the late RSS founder-leader Dr Hegdewar is the first casualty of the Censor Board this year.
Documentary filmmaker Yakub Saeed who has been a part of the television industry for over three decades, submitted this documentary last month, in the hope of Censor clearance. But the Board took a month to decide the fate of the film. Saeed has sent a letter to the Board, asking it for an explanation for stalling the film, when in fact, it was commissioned by Films Division, a government body.

In fact this film was sanctioned by former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. <b>A scene that portrays a conflict between Pandit Nehru and Dr Hedgewar is the point of contention</b>. But Saeed maintains that he has depicted facts, not fiction. (ANI)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It also makes sound economic, cultural and political sense to expect that a Bollywood looking to do well in Pakistan's large film market will have to <b>take into account Pakistani sensibilities</b>, besides employing local resources and workforce to make its films relevant for local audiences.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

So now, in order to get wider acceptance, the Bollywood movie producers would not finance movies like Roja or Border. Only more cross-border love stories like Veer-Zara. And not a peep about the cross-border terrorism. <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

Propaganda this!
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Portrayals of sexual violence in popular Hindi films, 1997-99.
by Srividya Ramasubramanian , Mary Beth Oliver
The incidence of sexual violence against women is greater in societies that have male-dominated ideologies and a history of violence, as is the case in India (Burt, 1980; Check & Malamuth, 1985; Linz & Malamuth, 1993). The number of registered cases of sexual crimes against women in India increased from 67,072 in 1989 to 84,000 in 1993 ("Crimes Against," 1996). In 1995 alone, more than 25,000 cases of molestation and 12,000 cases of rape were reported in the capital city of New Delhi (West, 1996). It is estimated that well over 80% of sexual crimes go unreported ("Atrocities Against," 2002). For example, only 7,643 of the estimated 50,000 instances of violence against women were reported to the police even in Kerala, a South Indian state with the highest women's literacy rate ("Atrocities Against," 2002).

One specific form of sexual harassment called "eve-teasing" is prevalent, especially in urban India. (3) The term eve-teasing is used to refer to sexual harassment of women in public places such as the streets, public transportation, parks, beaches, and cinema halls. This type of public harassment by a lone man or gangs of men includes verbal assaults such as making passes or unwelcome sexual jokes; nonverbal assaults such as showing obscene gestures, winking, whistling, and staring; and physical assaults such as pinching, fondling, and rubbing against women in public places ("Eve-teasing," 1999; Stevens, 1984). In addition, in several instances eve-teasing has been followed by more violent assaults such as rape and murder. In trying to construct the profile of an eve-teaser, it is interesting to note that about 32% of eve-teasers are college students ("Films," 1998).

The severity of these incidents coupled with their high prevalence resulted in the legal declaration of eve-teasing as a punishable offense by the state government of Tamil Nadu in 1999, where it was announced that offenders would be penalized with up to 1 year of imprisonment or a fine of Rs. 10,000 or both ("Ordinance," 1999). Despite the seriousness of these incidents, research suggests that they are frighteningly commonplace. For example, a recent survey revealed that approximately 90% of college women in New Delhi have experienced sexual harassment in some shape or form ("Films," 1998). Yet, it is estimated that only about 1 in 10,000 eve-teasing occurrences are reported to the police ("Atrocities Against," 2002).

The primary reasons why women abstain from reporting incidents of sexual violence are the unwieldy medicolegal process, concerns about continued violence, and fear of stigmatization (Prasad, 1999).

Mass Media and Sexuality in India
The variables that give rise to sexual violence in India are undoubtedly numerous and complex. However, for feminist media scholars, the idea that popular cinema plays a significant role in shaping notions about gender roles and gender identities within the Indian context is of special interest and concern (Bagchi, 1996; Ram, 2002). Cinema has been a dominant medium in India because of the sheer size and reach of its indigenous film industry. The Indian film industry produces about 800 feature films annually--the highest in the world (National Film Development Corporation, n.d.). Not only does India produce the largest numbers of films in the world, but also a sizeable amount of film consumption is common among almost all age groups, socioeconomic backgrounds, and geographical locations within India (Derne, 1995). It is estimated that every week approximately 90-100 million Indian viewers go to the cinema halls to watch films (Nair, Barman, & Chattopadhyay, 1999). Many cinemagoers ritualistically make as man y as 20-30 visits to the cinema hall in a month and repeatedly view a favorite film several dozens of times (Derne, 1999; Khare, 1985). Moreover, Indians films are popular not just in India but also amongst the Indian diaspora in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Fiji, Dubai, and Singapore (Bist, 2002). Indian-made films constitute the majority of the films watched by Indians; only about 5% of Indians watch non-Indian (mostly Hollywood) films (Anjum, 2002).

Apart from cinema halls, films also reach the Indian household through countdown shows on television that feature film-based song-and-dance hit numbers (Nair et al., 1999). In addition, access to cable television has also grown very rapidly in the last decade, with a penetration of over 50% of the urban Indian market as of 1997 (Nair et al., 1999). Futher-more, over 85% of the cable television operators routinely screen two films a day through their own private local channels to attract their customers (Nair et al., 1999).

The importance of sexual portrayals in motion pictures is particularly relevant to Indian audiences , not only because these portrayals are viewed in abundance, but also because issues of sexuality are rarely discussed in other contexts (Derne, 1999). According to Derne (1999), Indian film portrayals form a "privileged arena for construction of sexuality" for the common person, and serve as primary sources of information about how men and women are to behave in sexual relationships (p. 548). A recent study sponsored by UNICEF and Save the Children Fund in the Indian subcontinent showed that the film medium is influential, especially with teenaged boys, in teaching notions about masculinity, power, and violence in relationships with women (Poudyal, 2002). Similarly, researchers in the North American context have found that children and adolescents use media narratives (especially teen magazines and prime-time television programs) as sexual scripts for learning about dominant norms concerning gender, love, and sexuality (Carpenter, 1998; Pardun, 2002; Ward, 1995; Wood, 2001; Wood, Senn, Desmarais, Park, & Verberg, 2002).

Feminist scholars are particularly concerned that popular films in India too often portray women in stereotypical roles of subordination--accepting sexual violence as a normal part of relationships with men (Dasgupta & Hegde, 1988; Gandhi & Shah, 1992). Further, they have pointed out that men's abuse of women is often glorified within Indian cinema (Derne, 1999). More specifically, critics have pointed out that the repeated glamorization of eve-teasing in films as a macho manifestation of a tough-acting, college student hero, who initially upsets the heroine but finally wins her attention, has fostered a climate supportive of such acts in real life (Birla, 2001; "Films," 1998; Ravindran, 2001). Although many critics have voiced concerns, very few researchers have dealt with sexually violent portrayals in Indian films. In a rare study of its kind, Derne (1999) conducted a qualitative content analysis study of a selected few Hindi films in which violence and sexuality were often intertwined. Derne (1999) sugge sted that these films conveyed the notion that force and physical aggression were legitimate means of expressing romantic love. Therefore, sexual violence was not only "normal" but also "expected" in romantic relationships between heroes and heroines.

Links Between Media and Sexual Violence
Although little systematic research has explored the causal influences of Hindi films on sexual violence in India specifically, there is research in other cultures, particularly North America, that has explored the role of consumption of media portrayals of sexuality on viewers' behaviors. In this regard, some researchers have suggested that there is no causal relationship between access to sexually explicit material and the incidence of sexual crimes (Kutchinsky, 1991), that effects are observed only for individuals who are predisposed to be aggressive (Zillmann & Sapolsky, 1977), or that harmful effects are observed only for explicitly violent portrayals (Donnerstein, Linz, & Penrod, 1987). However, results of meta-analytic research suggest that there is a relationship between media consumption of sexually explicit materials (and particularly violent materials) and a number of variables related to sexual violence (Allen, D'Alessio, & Brezgel, 1995; Allen, Emmers, Gebhardt, & Giery, 1995). These analyses re ported that exposure to sexually explicit media (both violent and nonviolent) was associated with increased rape-myth acceptance and with increased subsequent aggression, especially among angered participants (Allen, D'Alessio, et al., 1995; Allen, Emmers, et al., 1995). In addition, researchers have also reported that consumption of sexually explicit media (both violent and nonviolent) may lead to increased sexual callousness-the disregard or contempt for a woman's right to deny sexual access (Zillmann & Weaver, 1989). Similarly, other researchers have argued that consumption of media portrayals of sexual violence may lead to target desensitization--the belief that certain individuals are appropriate, natural, and safe targets of violence who are deserving of aggression (Check & Malamuth, 1985; Donnerstein & Berkowitz, 1981). Behavioral effects of exposure to sexually explicit material can take the form of imitation of new behaviors as well as lowered inhibitions to try out already learned behaviors (Russell , 1988). Finally, other researchers have examined the idea of sexual objectification, and have reported that the viewing of pornography can lead some male viewers to interpret subsequent interactions with women in inappropriate sexual or erotic terms (McKenzie-Mohr & Zanna, 1990).

In summary, although most of the research on the effects of sexual portrayals suggests that some types of explicit images, particularly those that contain aggression, can lead to harmful effects on viewers, there are some inconsistencies in the literature that have made it difficult to determine causal effects. These differences have been attributed to the types of stimulus materials employed, the types of populations studied (e.g., rapists/noncriminals, hypermasculine men, whether or not the participants are under the influence of alcohol, propensity to use force), the environment, and additional cultural factors (Harris & Scott, 2002). Despite these factors, however, meta-analytic research that synthesized the body of literature in this area suggested that exposure to media portrayals of sexually explicit material can have a variety of effects on viewers' attitudes and behaviors, many of which are causes for concern (Allen, D'Alessio, et al., 1995; Allen, Emmers, et al., 1995; Harris & Scott, 2002).

The Present Research
Given the dearth of research on the effects of sexual violence with respect to popular Indian films and the need to investigate the effects of sexually explicit media amongst diverse populations, there is a need for research in the area of mediated sexual violence in India. The literature on effects of filmed sexual violence generally supports claims that Hindi films may be a contributory factor in sexual harassment. However, this would be true only if Hindi films actually depicted the types of images that are thought to play a role in influencing notions about sexuality in the Indian context. Hence, the first step in exploring this issue is to examine the types of portrayals that are commonly depicted in the films. At this point it is unclear if popular films meant for mass consumption would have any sexually violent material in the first place. In particular, because popular Hindi films are viewed by people of all age groups (rather than just by adults), one might expect that Hindi films would be unlikely t o show sexual images. On the other hand, if Hindi films do provide an outlet for "discussions" of sexual behaviors that serve to reinforce traditional views of women, then one might expect that Hindi films would be likely to show violence against women as normal and perhaps even enjoyable.

Consequently, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the manner in which popular Hindi films portray sexual violence and the way in which violence might be associated with gender and romantic love. Specifically, we examined the following research questions:

RQ1: What proportion of sexual scenes contains violence?
RQ2: Is there a relationship between gender and likelihood of being the primary victim of sexual violence?
RQ3: Is there a relationship between character role and likelihood of being the primary perpetrator of sexual violence?
RQ4: Is there a relationship between severity of sexual violence and character role of the primary perpetrator of sexual violence?
RQ5: Against what type of character roles are heroes most likely to perpetrate sexual violence?
RQ6: Is there a relationship between scene type and severity of sexual violence?

METHOD

Sample
A sample of nine full-length feature films was randomly selected from a population of top-10 box office hits in the Hindi film industry released in the years 1997, 1998, and 1999. (4) Within each of these 3 years, three films were randomly selected. Because we were interested in mass entertainment, especially films viewed by adolescents, films rated "U" (universal audience) and "UA" (public viewing with parental guidance for children under age 12) were included in the study but those rated "A" (films restricted to adult audiences) were excluded (National Film Development Corporation, n.d.; see Table I for a list of the films analyzed).

Units of Analysis
Two units of analysis were examined in this study: characters and sexual scenes. A scene was defined as a division of the film that presents continuous action in one place such as a single situation or unit of dialogue in the film (e.g., love scene or fight scene). Because we were interested in examining the nature of violence within the context of sexual interactions, only sexual scenes (both violent and nonviolent) were coded. The entire film was watched to locate the presence of sexual scenes. One hundred and eight such scenes were included in this study. A sexual scene was defined as one in which two or more characters were involved in activities such as having sex, kissing, petting, initiating or suggesting sexual contact, displaying nudity, engaging in sexual talk, bathing in an erotic way, wearing provocative or revealing clothes, or shown as a sexual object of gaze. This included actual depictions, suggestions of, and preparation for sexual activities. No instances of homosexual relationships were por trayed in any of the films selected. Therefore, only heterosexual relationships were considered within the scope of this study. Also, because we were interested in examining sexual interactions between individuals, two or more characters had to be present in a scene for it to be considered as a sexual scene. For example, a woman undressing for a bath was not considered for the study, but if a man undressed a woman, it was included within the study.

The second unit of analysis was the character. Seventy-seven characters were coded in this study. Only those characters who were shown speaking and were present in a sexual scene were included in the study. Characteristics of characters, such as gender and type of character role, were coded. Characters were observed for the entire film before coding their characteristics.

Coding Scheme
A coding scheme was created for the variables of interest: presence of sexual violence, primary perpetrators/victims, gender, character role, severity of sexual violence, and fun/seriousness of scene.

Presence of Sexual Violence
Sexual scenes were of two types: mutually consenting scenes and sexually violent scenes. Mutually consenting scenes were those in which the characters involved showed interest in or expressed no objection to engaging in the sexual behavior, and there was no harm to any of the people involved. In contrast, a sexually violent scene was any sexual scene where there was actual depiction of, suggestion of, or preparation for sexual violence. Sexual violence was defined from the victim's perspective as any forced sexual act that was inappropriate, offensive, and/or harmful. Offensiveness to the victim was assessed using verbal and nonverbal expressions of disapproval, anger, or disgust (e.g., saying no, crying, pushing away, clenching fists). This included (but was not limited to) acts such as rape, verbal comments, kissing, disrobing, touching, staring, rubbing against, and obscene gestures. Rape was defined as the actual depiction of, suggestion of, or preparation for forced sexual intercourse.

Sexual violence was not just limited to rape but also included sexual harassment, eve-teasing, and domestic violence. Sexual harassment was defined as inappropriate, offensive, and/or harmful sexual behavior within the context of a workplace or academic environment wherein a power differential existed between the parties involved. For example, the sexual harassment of a student by a professor or of a subordinate by a boss was coded as sexual harassment. Eve-teasing was defined as sexual behavior displayed in public places (especially between strangers or acquaintances who are not committed to a relationship) that was inappropriate, harmful, and/or offensive to the victim. Domestic violence was defined as sexual aggression (e.g., forced kissing, disrobing, pinching) between couples that were in an intimate, committed sexual relationship (e.g., boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance/fiancee, husband/wife) where the victim was hurt and/or offended by the sexual act.

Severity of Sexual Violence
Sexually violent scenes were further categorized as severe or moderate. Severe violence included actual depictions of, suggested, attempted, or preparation for rape or eroticized murder. Moderate sexual violence included all other forms of sexual violence, sexual harassment, eve-teasing, and domestic violence--that did not involve rape or murder. (5)

Primary Perpetrators/Victims in a Sexually Violent Scene
All sexually violent scenes had at least one perpetrator and one victim. The perpetrator was the one who initiated sexual aggression. A perpetrator was defined as someone who actually used, suggested the use of, attempted to use, or made preparations for using aggression in a sexual context. The victim was defined as the character who expressed lack of consent to the sexual act and/or was harmed by the act. It is important to note that sexual violence was defined more in terms of the harm caused to the victim rather than the intention of the perpetrator. This meant that even if the perpetrator did not intend to cause harm to the victim, it was considered as sexual violence if the victim was harmed.

Character Role
Every character was coded as playing one of five character roles: hero, heroine, villain, comedian, or supporting character. A hero was defined as a character who played the role of the main, leading, male protagonist of the film. The heroine was defined as the main, leading, female protagonist in the film. The villain was anyone who was an antagonist (man or woman). A comedian is a character who is similar to a "sidekick" in Hollywood films. A comedian was one whose role in the narrative was to provide comic relief (manor woman). Supporting characters included anybody who did not fall into the classification of hero, heroine, villain, or comedian. In a given film, more than one person could play these roles. For example, there were some films with two heroes.

Fun/Seriousness of the Scene
To understand fully the context within which sexuality was introduced into the plot of the films, it was crucial to code for the type of scenes that depicted sexuality. The sexual scenes were classified as either fun scenes or serious scenes. Serious scenes included drama, action, and mystery. Fun scenes included comedy, romance, and song--dance. Romance was defined as scenes that showed sexually attracted, dating, engaged, or married couples interacting with each other in a romantic fashion. Action was defined as scenes that showed fights, physical aggression, or violence. Comedy was defined as scenes that depicted jokes and humor. Song-dance scenes were defined as musical episodes accompanied by dances by characters in the film. All other scenes were coded as drama scenes. Typically drama scenes showed conflict, were dialogue-oriented, and involved emotions such as anger or sadness.

Coding Reliability
All coding and data reported here was conducted by the first author who was trained in coding procedures and was familiar with the descriptive booklet. (6) To examine reliability, a secondary coder fluent in the language of the films but unaware of the specific research hypotheses independently coded six of the nine films. Intercoder reliability was calculated by computing the percent agreement for the five variables examined in this study: presence of sexual violence (83%), character role (78%), severity (95%), gender of character (93%), and fun/serious (78%). (7)

RESULTS
Presence of Sexual Violence
The first research question concerned the prevalence of sexual violence. An examination of the sexual scenes analyzed showed that slightly less than half of the sexual scenes (40.7%, N = 44) contained violence (see Table II). The most common form of sexual violence depicted was eve-teasing (57% of sexually violent scenes, N = 25). Approximately 11% of the sexually violent scenes contained severe sexual violence such as rape or eroticized murder (N = 5). It should be noted here that one film (Border) showed only mutually consenting sexual scenes whereas Hero No. 1 depicted 72.2% of the sexual scenes as violent. However, most films depicted approximately 40% of the sexual scenes as sexually violent, suggesting that although there is clearly variation in the percentage of sexually violent scenes portrayed, the majority of these films contained a substantial proportion of sexual scenes containing violence.

Gender and Primary Victim of a Sexually Violent Scene
The second research question asked if there was any relationship between gender and the primary victim in sexually violent scenes. A chi-square test of the primary victims in sexual scenes revealed that women were more likely than men to be victims. Namely, of all victims coded in sexually violent scenes, 77% were women and 23% were men, [chi square](1, N = 43) = 12.30, p < .001, [V.sup.*] = 0.29 (see Table II). For example, in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, a typical college-based eveteasing is used as a means to enhance the sexual appeal of the heroine Tina (played by Rani Mukherjee). When Tina enters the college campus wearing a very short mini-skirt and tight top, she is accosted by a gang of men in her college who stare at her legs, whistle, hoot, and make lewd remarks at her even though she expresses her disgust at their behavior. However, it appears that the intention of the scene is more to invite the audience to view the heroine as a sex object rather than to empathize with her experience.

Character Role and Primary Perpetrator
The third research question focused on the relationship between the character role (hero vs. villain) and the primary perpetrator in sexually violent scenes. A chi-square analysis of heroes and villains showed that heroes (67.8%) were more likely than villains (32.2%) to be the primary perpetrator in sexually violent scenes. However, these differences only approached statistical significance, [chi square](1, N = 28) = 3.57, p = .06, [V.sup.*] = 0.13 (see Table II). For example, films such as Biwi No. 1 and Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain show the hero eve-teasing women by singing lewd songs, making sexual remarks, and touching the heroine in sexual ways despite knowing that the heroine does not like these acts. On the other hand, in Pardes, the evil, villainous boyfriend tries to force his fiancee to have sex with him and rips off parts of her clothes after taking her to a hotel room. However, such depictions are much fewer than instances where the hero is the perpetrator.

Character Roles and Severity of Sexual Violence
The fourth research question examined the relationship between character of the primary perpetrator and the severity of sexual violence portrayed. A chi-square analysis of character role and severity of sexual violence revealed that villains were more likely to be featured as perpetrators of severe sexual violence whereas heroes were more likely to be featured as perpetrators of moderate sexual violence. Specifically, primary perpetrators in severe scenes were more often villains (80.0%) than heroes (20.0%), whereas primary perpetrators in moderate scenes were more often heroes (78.2%) than villains (21.7%), [chi square](1, N = 28) = 6.39, p < .05, [V.sup.*] = 0.48 (see Table II). In films such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hero No. 1 there are several instances in which the hero eve-teases attractive young women to win their attention. These acts are treated in a very casual and trivial manner. However, later in the same film (Hero No. 1), the hero is shown enraged when the villains try to rape another young gi rl in the streets. The sexual violence in the latter scene is dramatized as something evil and wrong.

Character Role and Primary Victim
The fifth research question focused on the types of character roles against whom heroes were most likely to perpetrate sexual violence. All sexually violent scenes where the hero was the primary perpetrator were selected for this analysis. A chi-square analysis of the primary victims in these scenes revealed that heroines (95%) were much more likely to be the victim than were other characters (5%), [chi square](1, N = 19) = 15.21, p < 0.001, [V.sup.*] = 0.85 (see Table II). For example, a typical scene showing a boy--girl romantic confrontation using eve-teasing can be seen in Hero No. 1. The hero waylays the unsuspecting heroine (both are strangers to each other until this point in the story) at the airport, follows her around to the train station, makes obscene passes at her, rubs against her body, and even sits on her lap in the train, even though all through the sequence, the heroine constantly expresses her disapproval of these actions by the stranger (hero). As the entire encounter is against the backg round of a catchy song-and-dance sequence, the sexual harassment is presented to the audience as light-hearted fun.

Severity of Sexual Violence and Fun/Seriousness of Scene
The sixth research question asked if there was a relationship between severity of sexual violence and the type of scene. The findings suggest that severe sexual violence is more likely to be portrayed as serious whereas moderate sexual violence is more likely to be portrayed as fun. Specifically, a chi-square analysis revealed that severe crimes were more often portrayed as serious (80.0%) than as fun (20.0%) whereas moderate crimes were more often portrayed as fun (69.2%) than as serious (30.7%), [chi square](1, N = 44) = 4.64, p < .05, [V.sup.*] = .33 (see Table II). For instance, in Bandhan, the hero (played by Salman Khan) constantly eve-teases the heroine (played by Rambha), but the entire situation is couched in slapstick comedy, which distracts the viewer from the sexual harassment per se. On the other hand, later in the same film when the villains stop the heroine in an isolated field and eve-tease her, the scene takes on more serious proportions with dialogue and drama rather than song and dance.

DISCUSSION
The results of this study lend support to the idea that a substantial proportion of sexual scenes in popular Hindi films depict sexual violence, even in those films meant for viewing by audiences of all age groups or with parental guidance if under 12 years. However, it is not just the amount of sexual violence in the films that is cause of concern but also the nature of these portrayals.

First, these films indicate a gender divide when it comes to perpetrators and victims of sexual violence. Almost all films show female characters as victims of sexual violence, whereas male characters are shown as perpetrators of these incidents. This seems to be consistent with traditional gendered beliefs in India that women should be submissive and men should be aggressive in social relationships. This repeated pairing of women with violence is problematic because it might reinforce existing beliefs that it is acceptable to aggress against women and that women should tolerate violence from men.

Another aspect of these portrayals that is a cause for concern is that the perpetrators of sexual violence were not just villains, but also heroes. Heroes were somewhat more likely than villains to be the primary perpetrators in sexually violent scenes. It is a cause for concern that heroes, who often represented the essence of "ideal manhood" and male sexuality, were often perpetrators of sexual violence. This lends some support to the idea that being aggressive is depicted as "being manly."

The idea that heroes would be shown engaging in sexual violence is cause for concern, as social learning perspectives suggest that when likable, attractive characters such as heroes perpetrate sexual violence on screen, they are more likely to be imitated by viewers. That is, research on social learning from media portrayals suggests that viewers are more likely to emulate behaviors that they see in the media when the modeled behavior is portrayed as rewarded (or at least not punished; see Bandura, 1994). This line of reasoning suggests that film portrayals of women as victims of sexual aggression are particularly problematic because such behavior might be learned and imitated by the viewers. In addition, the viewer's modeling of a media character's behaviors is particularly likely to occur when the character is portrayed as attractive, likable, and heroic. In terms of the present research, this suggests that Indian male viewers may be especially likely to emulate sexually violent behavior perpetrated by her oes.

Heroes and villains differed in the types of sexual violence that they perpetrated. Heroes were more likely to perpetrate moderate crimes such as eveteasing, sexual harassment, and domestic violence, whereas villains were more likely to perpetrate severe crimes including rape and eroticized murder. Thus, moderate sexual violence seems not to be condemned and might even be rewarded. As we saw above, heroes, by definition, seem to protect moral good and to fight evil. Therefore, the association of heroes with moderate sexual violence may run the risk of sending a message to viewers that only severe crimes are bad and that moderate sexual violence is not bad (and may be even perceived as good). Therefore, these findings suggest that only rape and eroticized murder might be considered crimes by the audiences, but that eve-teasing, sexual harassment, and domestic violence may be socially acceptable sexual behaviors. Furthermore, moderate sexual violence is often depicted in the context of fun and happiness, where as severe sexual crimes are depicted as serious and dramatic. This pairing of fun with moderate sexual violence implies that such crimes are not bad but enjoyable for all involved.

Moreover, the finding that heroes more often aggressed against heroines than against any other characters is consistent with the argument that aggression is portrayed as a desirable attribute in Hindi films. It should be noted that in all the films in this study, the hero and heroine were romantically involved. This suggests that it was appropriate, normal, and perhaps even romantic for men to aggress against the women with whom they were romantically involved. From the perspective of sexual script theory, these portrayals may suggest to viewers (especially young adults, adolescents, and children) that these recurring themes of violence among romantically involved couples in the media represent acceptable ways of behaving in sexual relationships. The films analyzed in the current study were not adult films but those rated U and UA. Thus, it is highly likely that these films' audiences include younger age groups who are also likely to be learning social norms related to gender and sexuality. Moreover, as ment ioned previously, eve-teasing statistics report that about one third of the perpetrators in real life are college-age youth ("Films," 1998). This situation suggests that social learning and sexual script theories might be at work although clearly, experimental research needs to be conducted to determine the specific nature of the effects that these films may be having on their viewing audiences.

Although the results of this study indicate that moderate sexual violence such as eve-teasing, domestic violence, and sexual harassment by men against women is very often portrayed as appropriate, enjoyable, and romantic, there are several limitations that deserve attention and suggest directions for future research. First, only top-lO box office hits were chosen for the analysis. It can be argued that more (or fewer) types of films could have been included in defining what is popular. However, the use of top-lO box office films allowed for the examination of films that are clearly popular among a wide viewing audience both within India and amongst the Indian diaspora in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, and Dubai.

Second, we examined popular films in the Hindi language only and did not include regional Indian language films. Even though there are very large numbers of films produced each year in regional languages (especially Telugu and Tamil), their popularity and audience reach is smaller than that of Hindi films. Nevertheless, future researchers could benefit by including these two-regional-language films to get a regional sample of sexually violent portrayals.

Another limitation of this research is the small sample of films analyzed. This limitation reflects the fact that Hindi films often average 3-4 hr in length, which makes them time-consuming to analyze. However, the longer film length meant that the numbers of scenes and characters analyzed in a given film were also proportionately higher. Nevertheless, future studies would undoubtedly benefit from the inclusion of a larger sample of films.

An additional limitation of this study is that we coded only sexual scenes within the films. Although the use of sexual scenes as a unit of analysis was appropriate for the questions examined in this study, it restricted the generalizability of our findings because it was not possible to say whether sexual scenes contained more or less violence than the nonsexual scenes. On the one hand, the potential effect of sexual violence may largely depend on the amount of violence in the film overall, with violence in the sexual scenes only arguably having different effects than violence running throughout all types of scenes. On the other hand, one might argue that any portrayals of sexual violence have the potential to affect viewers. Nevertheless, an examination of violence across all scenes, sexual and non sexual, should be taken into consideration by future researchers.

Finally, a content analysis such as this one can only describe the portrayals that exist on screen. The method is limited in its ability to predict attitudinal and behavioral changes that could result from exposure. At best, the results can only be seen as indicative of the likely effects on the audience. We cannot in any way claim that the increase in sex crimes is due to the sexual violence portrayed in films. Such conclusions are best made using experimental methodologies.

Despite these limitations, the results of this exploratory study seem to suggest that Indian films tend to present moderate forms of sexual violence to its audience as normal, fun, and heroic. The effect that such sexually violent portrayals have on viewers is an area of study that is deserving of research attention. Overall, our data support the criticism that eve-teasing in Indian films is not generally portrayed as a crime that ought to be punished, but rather as an act of romantic love aesthetically woven into the narrative as fun and enjoyable.

Table I   List of Films Analyzed in This Study   Year Film title   1997  Pardes  Border  Hero No. 1  1998  Bandhan  Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha  Kuch Kuch Hota Hai  1999  Biwi No. 1  Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain  Sarfarosh   Table II.   Summary of Results    Sexual scenes  With violence 40.7%  Without violence 59.3%   Gender of primary victims of sexual violence  Women 77.0%  Men 23.0%   Character role of primary victims of sexual violence  Heroines 95.0%  Other roles 5.0%   Primary perpetrators of sexual violence  Heroes 67.8%  Villains 32.2%   Primary perpetrators of moderate sexual violence  Heroes 78.2%  Villains 21.7%   Portrayal of moderate sexual violence  Fun 69.2%  Serious 30.7% 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors thank Srinithya for her assistance in data collection. They also thank Joan C. Chrisler and the anonymous reviewers for their detailed and valuable comments.

(3.) Although it is entirely possible that the word eve-teasing might refer to the biblical story of Adam and Eve, we prefer to spell eve-teasing with a small "e" rather than a capital E" because this is the spelling used by Indian journalists.

(4.) While we were making a random selection of three of the top-10 box office hits of 1997, the film Virasat was selected at first but it was not accessible. Therefore, it was replaced with another randomly selected film, Border.

(5.) It is important to point out that our use of the terms severe and moderate is not meant to imply that "moderate" acts are trivial. Rather, both severe and moderate acts are understood to represent sexual violence. However, our use of the term severe in this context refers to acts such as rape and murder that are extreme forms of sexual violence that result in lasting physical harm to the victim.

(6.) In this study, the primary coder was responsible for coding all of the data that were presented in this paper. The additional coder was employed as a way of assessing the primary coder's reliability. Although researchers often have coders resolve disputes and arrive at a mutual decision, there are numerous instances where an additional coder is employed as a means of reliability computation or where multiple coders were employed, with their independently coded data collected after reliability checks had been conducted (e.g., Fouts & Burggraf, 1999; Larson, 2001; Sharrer, 2002; Schlenker, Caron, & Halteman, 1998).

(7.) There was disagreement among the coders concerning the unit of analysis for two of the sexual scenes. This disagreement is reflected in the reliability indicators. Gender was coded as male/female. There was some disagreement between coders regarding the gender of transvestites, bisexual persons, and transgendered individuals that reduced the reliability of this measure.

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Srividya Ramasubramanian (1, 2)
Mary Beth Oliver (1)
(1.) Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
(2.) To whom correspondence should be addressed at College of Communications, Pennsylvania State University, 115 Carnegie Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802; e-mail: srivi@psu.edu.
Publication Information: Article Title: Portrayals of Sexual Violence in Popular Hindi Films, 1997-99. Contributors: Mary Beth Oliver - author, Srividya Ramasubramanian - author. Journal Title: Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 327+. COPYRIGHT 2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation; COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->