Kamal Hassan's recent movie "Vishwaroopam" is in the news because of protests against it by some Muslim groups. It seems they believe that the movie shows their religion in a bad way. The Tamil Nadu government promptly banned it even though it was cleared by the censor board. This is not the first (and I am sure not the last) time some movie, book, article, or painting is facing this problem. There were similar incidents in the past, by people from all religions. Please don't get the impression that only conservative Muslim groups indulge in these types of activities. There are no exceptions to this type of behavior. All religions and their agents who claim that their religion teaches love, compassion, and tolerance behave in such intolerant and violent ways when there is a time to display some of these qualities. These groups are so sensitive that their religious feelings get hurt by any small unfavorable comment made about anything related to their religion in any context.
All these incidents raise many questions. Why do we have a censor board in place if the fate of any movie is decided by some fundamentalist organizations that can create a law and order situation? Why the government doesn't honor the decision of its own body like the censor board? Why does the government surrender to the pressure of some of these groups who openly blackmail them? Why courts don't want to give clear verdicts about such issues? If the court is not willing to get involved in these types of matters or is not the place to settle such sensitive/controversial issues then why do they accept such petitions in the first place? Finally, Is India really a secular republic?
These issues tend to become so sensitive and complicated that even courts, government bodies, or even governments (state or national) are not willing to deal with them directly. The common policy is to delay the decision indefinitely and allow the problem to die its own death. It happened with M F Hussain when people objected to some of his paintings. So many cases were filed against him in so many different courts all over India, and finally, he had to leave the country and take shelter in some other country. Now even Kamal Hassan is thinking of leaving his home state (Tamil Nadu) and is looking for another secular state, and if he can't find any state in India he is thinking of leaving India and settling somewhere where he won't face such a problem. One can feel the agony and frustration of these artists or citizens who are feeling betrayed by the system which is supposed to protect their fundamental rights and make sure that vandalism or this type of cultural terrorism doesn't dictate what people should write, wear, think, or what type of films they should make.
Most feature films are made exclusively for entertainment and business purposes. They don't intend or claim to change society. At most, they reflect some current sentiments of society or culture. This medium has its own strengths and limitations. Any artist or writer tries to express through his/her creation. They have the fundamental right of freedom of expression given to them by the constitution of India. There are various bodies and legal departments to keep a watch on these things, but these issues arise even after having so many checkpoints and they get heavily politicized. The ultimate sufferer is not that religion that is claiming being targeted or people who are protesting against these movies or books but these artists and our social values suffer from these actions. When a society that claims to be liberal, secular, patient, and peace-loving reacts in this way it contradicts its own image and values. After all, no film, book, painting, or article has the power to destroy any religion or country that survived for so many centuries. For every book or film which says something bad about any person or religion there are so many other films or books which say something good. So, what's the problem?
Followers of all these religions, sects, or people forget that directly or indirectly the freedom of expression was responsible for the origin of all these things. It helped various religions and cults in their survival and propagation. These philosophies or people who proposed new ideas contradicted views and clashed with current belief systems when they were introduced. All these sects and religions cherish their own struggle and feel proud about their own fight with the establishment but are not willing to allow contradictory thoughts to be expressed when they are in control. Then, what is the difference between them and people who tried to suppress their messengers or Gods when they were delivering different messages that contradicted the current belief systems of that time? These people are so blinded by their faith and power that they don't even realize this contradiction in their own history.
I hope these people who are threatening to take a violent path understand the meaning of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, the values that everybody claims that their religion teaches. They show some respect towards the law of the land and try to reform their own religion or culture rather than worrying about some movie or book damaging them. The question is not only about this one movie or one artist, the question is about allowing this form of cultural terrorism to take control of our society and dictate the terms. This is not acceptable at any cost and we should oppose it wherever we see such incidents happening.
References:
1. The Hindu- About ban on Vishwaroopam
2. Kamal Hassan- Tamil Nadu wants me out
3. Salman Rushdie-Jaipur literary festival
4. M F Husain and controversy related with his paintings
5. The Politics of Deepa Mehta's 'Water'
These issues tend to become so sensitive and complicated that even courts, government bodies, or even governments (state or national) are not willing to deal with them directly. The common policy is to delay the decision indefinitely and allow the problem to die its own death. It happened with M F Hussain when people objected to some of his paintings. So many cases were filed against him in so many different courts all over India, and finally, he had to leave the country and take shelter in some other country. Now even Kamal Hassan is thinking of leaving his home state (Tamil Nadu) and is looking for another secular state, and if he can't find any state in India he is thinking of leaving India and settling somewhere where he won't face such a problem. One can feel the agony and frustration of these artists or citizens who are feeling betrayed by the system which is supposed to protect their fundamental rights and make sure that vandalism or this type of cultural terrorism doesn't dictate what people should write, wear, think, or what type of films they should make.
Most feature films are made exclusively for entertainment and business purposes. They don't intend or claim to change society. At most, they reflect some current sentiments of society or culture. This medium has its own strengths and limitations. Any artist or writer tries to express through his/her creation. They have the fundamental right of freedom of expression given to them by the constitution of India. There are various bodies and legal departments to keep a watch on these things, but these issues arise even after having so many checkpoints and they get heavily politicized. The ultimate sufferer is not that religion that is claiming being targeted or people who are protesting against these movies or books but these artists and our social values suffer from these actions. When a society that claims to be liberal, secular, patient, and peace-loving reacts in this way it contradicts its own image and values. After all, no film, book, painting, or article has the power to destroy any religion or country that survived for so many centuries. For every book or film which says something bad about any person or religion there are so many other films or books which say something good. So, what's the problem?
Followers of all these religions, sects, or people forget that directly or indirectly the freedom of expression was responsible for the origin of all these things. It helped various religions and cults in their survival and propagation. These philosophies or people who proposed new ideas contradicted views and clashed with current belief systems when they were introduced. All these sects and religions cherish their own struggle and feel proud about their own fight with the establishment but are not willing to allow contradictory thoughts to be expressed when they are in control. Then, what is the difference between them and people who tried to suppress their messengers or Gods when they were delivering different messages that contradicted the current belief systems of that time? These people are so blinded by their faith and power that they don't even realize this contradiction in their own history.
I hope these people who are threatening to take a violent path understand the meaning of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, the values that everybody claims that their religion teaches. They show some respect towards the law of the land and try to reform their own religion or culture rather than worrying about some movie or book damaging them. The question is not only about this one movie or one artist, the question is about allowing this form of cultural terrorism to take control of our society and dictate the terms. This is not acceptable at any cost and we should oppose it wherever we see such incidents happening.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
References:
1. The Hindu- About ban on Vishwaroopam
2. Kamal Hassan- Tamil Nadu wants me out
3. Salman Rushdie-Jaipur literary festival
4. M F Husain and controversy related with his paintings
5. The Politics of Deepa Mehta's 'Water'
Amazing blog vinay. Your post on Kamal Hassans issue, was thoughtfull. I love the way you write!
ReplyDeletecheck this out- www.lifeaskrishna.com. read a post, on A letter to Anna Hazare.Someone like you should definitely read it. Thanks
Thanks a lot Krishna for your comments, I am glad that you liked the post. India was the place where people from all over the world used to come to share their ideas and participate in debates, there was total freedom of expression but somehow it seems that we lost that tradition and are now turning into very conservative and intolerant society which is not a good sign.
DeleteI read the letter to Anna Hazare on the link you provided, there are some very valid points there and thats what is needed, free and fair discussion, a healthy debate so that we can understand the issue better and attack it from all sides.