Dr. Pradeep Kumar Singh
Indians have a great attachment to the filmdom. A few decades ago, villagers used to go to city for family outings with watching movies as the main attraction. Farmers would go to market to sell fruits and vegetables, and many of them would come back after watching the cinema. Many students in educational institutions used to skip their studies to watch movies. Such unlimited attraction towards cinema in the name of entertainment cannot be considered fair.
The education level in the country has improved a lot in past few decades. With the electrification of villages, television and other means of entertainment have also become available. In cities also, the reach of television and other means of entertainment have got expanded. Electrification, television, internet, computers and smart-mobile phones etc. have eliminated the difference between the city and the village. These modern resources are also playing an important role in disseminating information and increasing awareness. In addition, the social media platforms have also given an opportunity to express the views.
Hindi-cinema audience has been giving a lot of respect to the Bollywood celebrities considering them as the ideals. Attracted by their idealistic acting, the youth have been seen practicing to be and behave like them. For a few decades, many films and episodic shows are observed to have been stuffed with the cruelty, obscenity, indecent dialogues and indecent body exposure by actresses, etc. to take maximum advantage of this attraction in the society. The same has happened in advertisements too. Also, the society is being imparted (direct-to-home) training to humiliate the family members and the respected near and dear ones by making fun of them, in the name of comedy. Protests by a section of society fall on deaf ears saying it is the demand of the story, or it is the choice of the audience. A few arrogant stars even challenge the society that watching the show is their choice, they are not forced. Sometimes those who protest or criticize the shows are insulted by calling them contractors of the society and culture.
As the information about Bollywood celebrities is disseminating through the media, the attraction towards them in the society is diminishing. After the death of the actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June-2020, the statements made by film stars, and revelations from media-trials and police-investigation made the society understand that all that glitters in Bollywood is not gold. A large section of these celebrities suffer from all those evils which are generally detested by the society. Favoritism, unethical conduct, corruption, drug abuse etc. evils have become the identity of many of them.
A large section of the Bollywood has been observed against the nationalism and the Hindu culture in real life as well. Several stars have often been observed to remain silent on topics like love jihad, cow slaughter, forced conversion and brutal killing of Hindus, etc. But they become secular and make statements in favour of other community, even on rumors without authentic information. Some make derogatory remarks on the Indian Army from time to time, while a few challenge the nation’s identity by naming their children after the brutal invaders and cruel rulers. Some openly support the anti-national activities. Their behaviour and rhetoric at the time of anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) movement cannot be forgotten.
Over the past few decades, a new promotional model has evolved in the Bollywood. Under this model, controversies are provoked at a wide scale in the society by putting controversial content in films, dramas and advertisements so as to ignite eagerness to watch the show, and that the advertisement occupies the mind for a long time. This promotional model has often been successful too. The glorification of criminals, humiliation of Hindu faith, distortion of history, etc. have been a part of this tool-kit. Till now dozens of films have been reported to be controversial. A few episodic shows and advertisements can also be considered in this category. The censor board seems to be helpless in this regard.
Not only Bollywood, some other film-celebrities also keep on hurting the country’s cultural heritage and Indian identity in the name of creative freedom or freedom of expression. In July-2022, film-maker Leena-Manimekalai released the poster of a documentary film Kali, in which Maa Kali was shown smoking a cigarette and holding the 7-colour flag of the LGBT community. Not only this, she also tweeted a picture of the artistes playing Lord Shankar and Maa Parvati, in which they are seen smoking. However, the legal action against the film-maker is still awaited despite of the multiple FIRs filed in different states.
The controversial issues generally lead to free publicity, but even after deliberately hurting the sentiments of the society, often the hands of the law seem to be falling short for a strict action against the filmmakers, actors and comedians. It seems that the constitutional limitations on Freedom of Expression have become ineffective, and that these have been divided on communal basis. Now social awareness is emerging, the tool-kit of controversial content based propaganda model is also being understood. Now the only option left with the society to curb the tyranny of the Bollywood, is to boycott it on social media. After all, it is the responsibility of the society to bring the derailed film-industry back to track. The youth community participating in the Boycott Bollywood campaign is fulfilling its responsibility.
Here it is important to understand that in a democratic election, both the manifesto of the political parties and the character of the candidate are important for the voter. Similarly, in the field of acting, both the content of the story and the character of the actors are important for the audience. The content should be of national interest and the conduct of the actors should be exemplary. Although there are gentle and patriot cine-stars too in the film-industry, yet they have to come out to take lead from the front and dissociate from others.
Now-a-days many cine-stars are trying to join the ruling party BJP for success of their films, and some are openly seeking the support. However, it is better to take the boycott campaign positively as an opportunity to make correction, introspect and make reforms to honour the sentiments of the society with a focus on national welfare. They should make efforts towards making the nation a super power by evolving the film-industry as the soft power of the country. This is the principle of survival of the fittest.
(The author is Professor & former Dean (Research & Consultancy) Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology, Longowal)
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