Padmavati Row: Is Cinema caught in the Crosshairs of Politics and Communal Violence?

There was a time not too long ago when cult fiction cinema enjoyed unopposed reverence rightfully earned, instilled nothing but inspiration and enjoyed awards and appreciation for years to come.

These films had dared to break the mold, turning the narrative surrounding prominent social issues on their head with the ease and grace of just what the filmmakers intended their art to be – a visual, fictional culmination of their creative prowess.

Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah made in the 1970s exhibits the genius of this very art form. The Queen of Tragedy , Meena Kumari’s unforgettable performance, soul-stirring music and evocative dialogues exalted this movie to the cult status it so arduously earned. It also changed the way sex-workers or prostitutes were perceived, even if fleetingly so, in an era that allowed the magic of cinema to immerse movie-goers in evocative characters and stories spun by brilliant story-tellers without the post script of vitriol and violence that is the norm today.

Another work of art to grace the world of Bollywood in the 1950s was Mother India. Deemed by many quarters as “India’s most revered film”, “a flag-bearer of Hindi Cinema and a legend in its own right” to even “ All Hindi Films come from Mother India” a profound declaration by Hindi cinema poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, Mehboob Khan’s magnum opus was etched with nuances and symbolisms of Hindu mythology showcasing Nargis’s widowed, single mother character as the idyllic, morally goddess-like Hindu woman.

In more recent times another film that left its firm mark and gave rise to the phenomena of candle light protests that we so often see on our streets today was ‘Rang De Basanti’. With an impact that ran wide and deep even much after the film’s release in 2006, the “RDB effect” was a term that gained popularity among social activists and started to bring people together to talk about corruption, bureaucracy and the lack of basic amenities. Emboldened by the film’s iconic candle protest scene, people took to the street in large numbers in prominent cases like the Jessica Lal murder, and spurred dialogue on political and social fronts.

The list is endless with legendary films still talked about today like Prem Rog, OMG Oh My God - that puts a satirical spin on religion and idol-worship, and Damini – a woman who fights alone for justice against rape. These were all films that gave talent and temerity brand new meanings without fringe groups sending out death threats or parties in power instigating communal violence or trying to lick wounds off easily “hurt sentiments” by declaring bounties on heads of actors and filmmakers.

Today we live in the age of Twitter and Facebook, of platform upon platform for the angry, violent and critical to air their frustrations in the vilest of ways. The availability of these platforms and the willingness of the media to allow such savage fringe groups to ferment by giving their jingoistic barbarism wings is a sad byproduct of our times.

Today we live in a time when Padmavati actress Deepika Padukone and a filmmaker like Sanjay Leela Bhansali are being threatened with bodily harm, death threats and bounties for making a period film. In the 1960s this film would have sailed through with pats on the back and packed cinema halls. But today the release of the film is being deferred following accusations and acts of vandalism by the Rajput fringe group Karni Sena that allege the queen Padmavati is being shown in a bad light following a gross “distortion of history.”

That the release of movies is now being taken to the desks of the Supreme court with the censor boards twiddling their thumbs and dragging their feet on certifications is nothing short of absurd. Not only has creative freedom been trampled on time and time again due to the proclivity of our naysayers today to invoke violence at the drop of a hat, we have allowed a new revolution of intolerance and unhappiness to take birth that has crept into every sphere of discourse today and metamorphosed into murderous threats being egged on, shockingly by BJP leaders declaring 10 crore bounties and “breaking legs” of actors and filmmakers.

How did we get here? How did we become so regressive in our “progress” towards and into the 21st century?

How is it that for a fleeting moment in time, the clocks turned and we opened our eyes towards enlightenment with films like Rang De Basanti, Mother India, Pakeezah and even Achoot Kanya that dates further back to the 1930s – a reformist and much celebrated piece of work on the social position of Dalit girls – but instead of progressing further as the years went by we closed our eyes again and regressed into mindless theatrics of our own?

Another example of our misplaced feminism fueled by misogynist and crass comments by the likes of Shashi Tharoor and BJP leaders is the recent Miss World win by Manushi Chillar – a feat that needs to be celebrated as it was until seventeen years ago when Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai made our hearts swell with pride instead of letting it get caught in the crosshairs of the “patriarchal” discourse and being used as upcoming election bait.

The media is only kindling this fire by airing the proclamations of these extremist elements, allowing them to gain unreasonable clout. Politics and jingoism have claimed another victim as we helplessly look on.

Perhaps when the smog settles, it is time to stage a candle light protest to bring back a civilized, non-violent, appreciative society again.