Nuanced narratives ARE OUT for now

I have a bit different opinion on this.

1. Aurangzeb was one of the most brutal and bad muslim ruler who did torture Hindus. If you read history you probably already know how lethal he was. So showing his karnaame in a movie shouldn’t create any new problem. People should accept it as is.

2. Movies don’t have responsibility to ‘steer’ the society. They’re mere reflection of the society. They’re in a business. Why should they take risk ? The same reason I didn’t think Animal had bad influence on youth. Well youth are already all those shown in the movie which is why they could identify to it. Movie is a media to reflect the concurrent society.

3. People are getting dumber by day and being played by political goons who’re also now ‘leaders’ to misguide an entire generation by keeping them engaged in ‘Khudai’ activity. No one, literally NO ONE in the world has time to go back in time leaving their jobs and livelihood, except for Historians, Paleontologists and stuffs who have this as PROFESSION. Why does Indian Youth have so much free time to be engaged in all these - is the real question.

Message to youth rather - Take a break. Stop a moment. Think about your OWN family/parents what they did in their youth. They WORKED ! They earner ! They fed you. You have a job from party-work only till the party has fund. This is not permanency. Find a job that pays against your ideas, work, not for just joining a ‘party’. Then you’d have no time to do all these ruckus, really.

I'm completely with you on the third point.

Youth is being misguided and misled and brainwashed. Unemployment rates are very high n our country. Poverty is staggering. People don't have the means to make ends meet.

They are focusing their energies on stuff that doesn't matter.

There was a time when mainstream cinema, even within its masala framework, at least attempted to reflect India's diversity and contradictions. Films like Garm Hava (1973), Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977), Sardari Begum (1996), and Dor (2006) tackled history, religion, and identity with some level of nuance. Even the commercial industry had space for layered Muslim protagonists (Zubeidaa, Fiza), complex political narratives (Haider, Dil Se), and films that didn't force-feed jingoism.

What we're seeing now isn't just a lack of nuance—it's a deliberate, state-backed effort to rewrite history and condition audiences into a singular, hyper-nationalist perspective. It’s not about Bollywood being flawless before; it’s about how it’s actively deteriorating into a propaganda machine

Fighter was a rare exception in recent Bollywood, proving that patriotism doesn’t have to be loud, chest-thumping jingoism. Unlike the usual hyper-nationalist fare, it balanced action with human emotions, avoided demonizing an entire community, and focused on the sacrifices of soldiers rather than empty rhetoric. It showed that mainstream Bollywood can be patriotic without turning into propaganda—if it chooses to.

That’s the classic trick with these films—they won’t explicitly say an entire community is evil, but the framing, dialogues, and visuals do the job subtly. Aurangzeb and his men are obviously portrayed as the villains, but the larger implication is clear: the ‘foreign invader’ narrative gets reinforced, and by extension, it fuels the already prevalent communal rhetoric in the country.

If a film truly wanted to depict history, it would show the political complexities of the time—alliances between Hindu and Muslim rulers, internal conflicts, and power struggles beyond just religion. But that doesn’t fit the current agenda, does it?

Originally posted by: mintyblue

I'm completely with you on the third point.

Youth is being misguided and misled and brainwashed. Unemployment rates are very high n our country. Poverty is staggering. People don't have the means to make ends meet.

They are focusing their energies on stuff that doesn't matter.

Politicians and Go Media 24/7 are into this brainwash how can people tolerate these scumbags

The more people are fed fear, manufactured pride, and an inflated sense of historical grievance, the more they internalize it as reality