Shorgul fatwa exposes duplicitous Bollywood, fake liberals

Why is Bollywood silent over Shorgul fatwa? Why are Left-liberals not huffing & puffing?

Popular Hindi cinema or Bollywood loves to abide by the notion that it's inspired by life. And as life doesn't hand things on a platter, to expect fairness from Bollywood is wrong. But, every time something threatens their world order they indulge in high pitch rhetoric in the name of fairness and stake everything in the name of artistic freedom. Yet when it comes extending the same courtesy to one of their own, Bollywood not only can be shamelessly selective in picking whom to support but also refuse to look beyond what suits their narrative the best.

Last week the Khamman Peer Baba Committee issued a Fatwa against actor Jimmy Sheirgill and the makers of the film Shorgul as it believes the film could probably hurt the sentiments of Muslims. The diktat states, "a seasoned actor like Jimmy Sheirgill has hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community by enacting scenes that will cause unrest in the community through the dialogues and scene depictions." A political drama based on the Muzaffarnagar riots Shorgul features Sheirgill and Ashutosh Rana in the lead roles and depicts the friendship between a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl that leads to unrest in society. Although the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has cleared with a U/A certificate, the film has already been banned' in several cities of Uttar Pradesh. The alleged real life references to politicians such as Sangeet Singh Som, Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan, who have said to be the inspiration for the characters played by Jimmy Sheirgill, Sanjay Suri and Narendra Jha respectively, too, invited a PIL to ban the film.

While the entire film fraternity came together to support freedom of expression when Udta Punjab was being threatened by the CBFC there hasn't been a single statement of solidarity with either Sheirgill or the makers of Shorgul. Political ideology, too, has been said to be a reason for CBFC Chief Pahlaj Nihalani's demand for certain cuts. The entire Bollywood A-list right from Karan Johar to Zoya Akhtar to Shabana Azmi to Aamir Khan defended the film from the worst that could happen if Nahilani's nefarious plan for Udta Punjab came to a pass. Ironically, the fears that made Bollywood ally together to save Udta Punjab have come true for Shorgul but forget Bollywood even the custodians of free speech couldn't care less for Shorgul. You'd not hear Suhel Seth compare any member of the Khamman Peer Baba Committee to a bulldog or call them dolts' or Anand Patwardhan, who has talked ad nauseam about his trials with the system, tweeting for Shorgul like he tweeted praising the High Court's decision on Udta Punjab.

It's more than evident that Bollywood and the self-appointed guardians of free speech don't care for those who don't carry the same torch. The manner in which Vivek Agnihotri's film Buddha in a Traffic Jam suffered a near blackout when it came to most mainstream media platforms is a testimony to the same. Agnihotri's film lambasted the Left ideology and although it even criticized the other side as well, his off-screen persona of being Pro-Right along with his vocal support for the Prime Minister was enough for most of Bollywood to stay away from supporting him when he faced opposition and even physical assault at the Jadhavpur University during the screening of his film. In spite of this Agnihotri openly supported Anurag Kashyap, the producer of Udta Punjab, and so did Ashok Pandit, someone who's politically on the other side and also happens to be a member of the CBFC.

The message is very clear " if you deviate from the narrative that is set you don't get any support. Jimmy Sherigill is an industry insider but is his freedom of expression not worthy to fight for because he's not in the league of a Shahid Kapoor, the star of Udta Punjab or doesn't hang out with the likes of Anurag Kashyap? Shorgul might have some political overtones but so did Udta Punjab and Haider and Vishwaroopam but this film and Buddha in a Traffic Jam are made by people on the sidelines when compared to them and therefore they would be ignored. What is happening to Shorgul is a classic case of artistic freedom being curbed and everyone's silent. The manner in which the industry held hands for Udta Punjab, eveyone believed that they would finally take strong stands but the abject lack of support for Shorgul suggests they need to do a bit of soul searching. It's easy to target the government because, as luck would have it, a major part of the film industry would stand together, or so it seems but what about the time one needs to stand up against the uncomfortable reality of religious intolerance and shouldn't that be not selective. How about some basic fairness... after all, isn't fairness all about allowing the other to express even if it's outside your ideology or the popular narrative?