SRK & Kamal Haasan victims of cultural terrorism

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blue-ice.

@blue-ice.

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+ 4

Posted: 12 years ago

#41

Originally posted by: return_to_hades
Sometimes I find myself expressing views on Pakistan, similar to SRK. I view Pakistan the political/military entity from Pakistan the civilian state. The political/military Pakistan is a difficult and antagonistic neighbor while the civilian state is just a brotha from another motha (or in this case fatha). And I often get upset that our political, religious leaders tend to view all of Pakistan with the same lens.

However, being a Hindu my views are dismissed as being naive or ignorant while his views are questioned as unpatriotic.

A similar case happened in the Bal Thackeray FB posts.The two girls arrested were Muslim. I know friends/relatives residing in Bombay saying similar things on FB, but since they were "Hindu" and "Marathi" they were not as threatening.

SRK does have a problem with foot in mouth, making obnoxious statements and attention seeking. At the same time we cannot deny the problem that a lot of people view Hindu Indians and Muslim Indians through different standards, and thats not fair.

That is true...my best friend here is a Pakistani...she is like a sister i never had..although I am a Hindu...i know a whole bunch of amazing Pakistani people here...and if the Pakistani people are anything like the people I know here...they are all lovable people..

@ red...thats hypocrisy..

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@MithiBani

Trailblazer

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

#42

Originally posted by: return_to_hades
Sometimes I find myself expressing views on Pakistan, similar to SRK. I view Pakistan the political/military entity from Pakistan the civilian state. The political/military Pakistan is a difficult and antagonistic neighbor while the civilian state is just a brotha from another motha (or in this case fatha). And I often get upset that our political, religious leaders tend to view all of Pakistan with the same lens.

However, being a Hindu my views are dismissed as being naive or ignorant while his views are questioned as unpatriotic.

A similar case happened in the Bal Thackeray FB posts.The two girls arrested were Muslim. I know friends/relatives residing in Bombay saying similar things on FB, but since they were "Hindu" and "Marathi" they were not as threatening.

SRK does have a problem with foot in mouth, making obnoxious statements and attention seeking. At the same time we cannot deny the problem that a lot of people view Hindu Indians and Muslim Indians through different standards, and thats not fair.

Like I said, you and I can express such views and people around us will be okay with it. But when a public figure like SRK goes about declaring his love when passions are high, people don't take to it kindly. Same goes for hindu media celebrities like Barkha Dutt or Sagarika Ghose. Watch them being trolled on twitter. It's nuts!

As for Shiv Sena, I really fail to understand how they operate. Arrest of those girls was such a stupid thing to do. But then they bash their Marathi icon Tendulkar to bits, so who's to know what goes on in their warped brains. A cartoonist gets arrested for drawing silly cartoons. No one questions his religion then. But had that been a muslim or a Christian, the minority card would be up and situation tense. Unfortunately, that's how it is in India.

Where I grew up, I did not see this religious discrimation. Maybe it exists. Maybe it doesn't. Some Hindus feel victimised coz they are talking of religion based reservations now. Christians feel sidelined amongst this Hindu/Muslim jhagda. Muslims feel they are treated unfairly. In short, Indians love playing the victim. Sometimes it's based on caste, language, region. And if that doesn't work...there's always religion to fall back on.

@Skep...I honestly feel Sallu and amir would be treated differently if they made that statement. I think SRK invites more wrath than those two. Guess we'll never know. 😆

Edited by MithiBani - 12 years ago

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835874

Suspended

Posted: 12 years ago

#43

whats so speciaal about Kamal Hassan? Isnt being an Atheist way 'worse' than calling God by a different name???

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blue-ice.

@blue-ice.

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+ 4

Posted: 12 years ago

#44

Originally posted by: KaranPsbakht
whats so speciaal about Kamal Hassan? Isnt being an Atheist way 'worse' than calling God by a different name???

Atheism...is just a belief system...its not better or worse than any other belief systems we have...just different...

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-Mmmmm-

@-Mmmmm-

Sparkler

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

#45

As a celebrity, they gain a lot... Name, fame, money and celebrity status. The downside, they do lose freedom of speech. Their words, their comments are over analysed, over scrutinised. Thats more reason for them to watch out what they say.

SRK's comments in the interview were open for interpretation. Small slips here and there is all that takes for the people with an agenda to make a big noise and further their cause. Thats exactly what happened. People with their own agenda started exploiting his statements and eventually he was at the receiving end of the back lash.

His clarification that day was very much needed and I am glad he did that.

Edited by -Maddy- - 12 years ago

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642126

Hibernated

Posted: 12 years ago

#46

@MithiBani

I think religious identity would have played a role. Some years ago I'd visited a zoo in Jaipur. People from different parts of India were there and so were foreigners. A bunch of college girls (seemed to be Hindu) were also among visitors and they were passing comments on everyone - clapped and laughed seeing a Sardar walk by (I don't know what was the reason to laugh and clap so hysterically, it wasn't a clown passing by and the Sikh gentleman was not dressed in garish clothes either as films portray), whispered to each other when a Muslim woman (whose face was covered by a burqa) passed by, then those firangi comments on a white couple with discussions on which country they could be from.

I hated it when they clapped and laughed at sight of a Sikh and talked in hushed tones about a Muslim woman. Can't a person be seen as an individual only? That singling out people and such varied reactions to each, just due to their religious identity and colour irritated me to no ends. It's crap yet many behave such way without even realising they do.

This instance is not directly related to the topics of controversy faced by stars. But I quoted it only to illustrate how Kamal Haasan's getting a different treatment compared to someone else who'd make such stupid threats about leaving the country...and how actor of some other religion would've received additional backlash, besides sympathy or support, just due to their identity.
The Khans would have got extremely divided response (with SRK getting worse due to pro-Pak stance he's shown often, Salman due to his controversial image and a general low opinion of his cinema, they'd have said jaana hai toh jaa! Aamir would get a little less backlash due to his excessive show of patriotism in recent times but some sections would still have reacted sharply at him due to NBA controversy, problems with Modi, bhaichaara comments during Kargil war).

In Kamal's case I see very few people condemning his style of expressing outburst. "I'll leave India" was a childish statement. And I laughed at news reports on Hindi channels which talked of "Kamal ka dard" and made it look like he was being forced to leave India or India was about to actually lose a gem like him! Ha! The drama queen had only shouted. He was not actually going!

This man's the first person to threaten to leave country when faced with a controversy in ONE state from a bunch of politicians and fringe groups. I don't support bans on his film (no matter what its content is) but I hate the way he handled it being such a reputed public figure.

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J tiger Barbie

@wat_up

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Action Alliance

Posted: 12 years ago

#47

I agree these bans and other things are wrong and bringing in religion very wrong!!

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642126

Hibernated

Posted: 12 years ago

#48

My final words on such debates would be, that even politicians are not consistent in their agenda. Dilip Kumar has received the Nishan-e-Pakistan from Pak govt. and mostly maintained pro-Pak stance with comments on bhai-chaara, bhai-bhai even during various Indo-Pak wars in previous decades. But the same Shiv Sena supremo who targeted SRK in IPL-Pak players comments, is a fan of DK and used to dine with him often. I wonder why he didn't have problems with a Nishan-E-Pakistan recipient (DK reportedly had himself gone to Pakistan to receive it and all this happened around Kargil war years!) but did have issues with SRK!

Politicians are calculative and they are never really concerned about an issue or any community. They just look to create ruckus at an "opportune time", exploit a situation and thereby generate publicity for themselves and even their target. SS controversy got SS noticed on a national scale, while SRK got excuse to use it as a part of his image building exercise as a Muslim icon (see I'm a victim too!).

Now Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam and the man himself are getting unprecedented publicity - which even his 4 National awards couldn't ever get him. Some parties in UP also threatened to ban the film. They got publicity and also showed fake concern to the Muslim vote bank in their state (Look how much we care for you! We're ready to ban a film for sake of your sentiments!).

People need to wake up, use their brains and stop buying tamasha of either politicians or public figures. No one's a victim except perhaps common man - who wastes time, gets fooled by agenda of either stars or politicians. Take up placards to voice on real issues instead of We hate Kamal/SRK or We support Kamal/SRK!

Also, people get some sense and stop protesting violently if a film indeed hurts sentiments. Ignore or boycott the film and quit giving the film or star too much importance!

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835874

Suspended

Posted: 12 years ago

#49

Originally posted by: blue-ice

Atheism...is just a belief system...its not better or worse than any other belief systems we have...just different...

true . I'm somewhat of an Atheist myself.. I don't believe in Hinduism., my mom keeps on praying but it's not something I believe in, couldn't care less for religion, culture and tradition tbh

all these are men-made.

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KhatamKahani

@KhatamKahani

Stunner

Posted: 12 years ago

#50

Originally posted by: MithiBani

Yes, MF Hussain didn't move to a secular country and I doubt that country would've allowed him the same artistic freedom had he drawn something to piss of their sensibilities. I'd have loved and respected him had he tried it there. What MF Hussain did and what Kamal did are two entirely separate things IMO. Hussain drew nude pictures of Goddesses. In a country like India, that is not art. Kamal was just telling a story through his film. He wasn't doing what Hussain did. He was telling a story about what's happening in the world right now, not drawing up nude pictures of some revered religious figures.

I agree that religious sentiments get hurt too easily in India. Kuch bhi bolo...arrey tumne mere Ishwar/Allah/Jesus ki insult kar di. WTH!! Like I tweeted a few days ago...it's probably time to ban religion in India. Ppl just can't keep it inside their homes. It's spilling on the streets causing mayhem. That's the last thing religion was meant for.

@bold, that's exactly the problem. This should've been nipped in the bud. But instead the gov't has caved to religious and ethnic bullying, tensions and 'hurt sentiments' from the start. And they various governments of India (state, national) have continued to do so.

And MF Hussain's art is still art. In a country which has a history of semi nude religious sculptures and art. But when he did it, some organizations and political parties made an issue. They also made an issue of that nude woman over the flag painting. Are you kidding me? In a country that has nudity and sexual poses and art in many historic sites.

If people wanted to voice objections fine. But it should not be that people have a chance to file complaints for obscenity or hurting religious sentiments.

As I said, slippery slope. You allow some things, and sure enough, it just piles on and continues.

Edited by likarsh - 12 years ago