A dipstick of films made during the NDA rule indicates the Hindutva or the so-called nationalist slant is increasingly finding its way into storylines. A couple of weeks back we had a film called Dishoom. A seemingly innocuous thriller, its title track has a line which says, Jan gan pe na khada hua to dishoom' (it suggests if somebody doesn't stand up on the National Anthem then he should be banged). Later the film caricatures hot spots of Islamist terror in West Asia in the same way as Hollywood used to do during the Cold War period. To justify the creative liberties, one of the two lead characters in the buddy cop film is a Muslim. If that was all in good' humour, this week we have Ashutosh Gowarikar's well-researched' take on Mohenjo Daro. The film's promos have already rubbed a section of historians the wrong way with the portrayal of Indus Valley Civilisation. By showing horses and using Sanskritised Hindi, it seems the filmmaker is inadvertently discrediting the Aryan invasion/migration theories and in the process backing the Hindutva agenda. "It is not a debate on whether horse was there or not, it is about a filmmaker making an ideological intervention. I think it is incorrect," says noted historian Dr. Nadeem Rezavi, who debated with Gowarikar during Jodha Akbar. The agenda of some people, adds Rezavi, is to somehow prove that the Muslims and Christians were foreigners and that only the Hindus were original inhabitants. One of the posters suggest that Hrithik Roshan as Sarman is holding a trident kind of weapon and towards the end of the promo, Sarman tells Maham (Kabir Bedi), you want to rule while I want to serve Mohenjo Daro.' Now, one doesn't need to stretch one's imagination to figure out the allegory.
"A filmmaker does need creative licence and we support that he is essentially a storyteller but he should not distort the accepted facts of history. The established theory so far that no one has seriously doubted is that the Harappan civilisation predates the coming of Aryans. If you look at their script, it is very different from that of Rig Veda. Of the hundreds of seals found during excavation, there is none having the horse figure." Mohenjo Daro is known for its town planning. Rezavi asks if Aryans were already here, instead of improving upon the city planning why did they go back to hut age.
Popular culture creates a lasting impression and television plays an equally important role. Rezavi reminds that the rise of Hindutva and telecast of Ramayan and Mahabharat happened simultaneously. "Some of the so-called historicals on television show little regard to history. Like Bairam Khan, a positive figure in history is maligned in these serials. My daughter asked but you teach something else in the class.' History not science but while depicting the past, one should be careful that it would not disturb the fabric of the society."
Earlier this year, we found an echo of this nationalist agenda in the National Awards as well asBaahubali won the Best Film award and Sanjay Leela Bhansali won the Best Director award for Bajirao Mastani. "Both films are about Brahmin warriors and had female characters swooning over them. This is the aspiration of a nationalist male," remarks Gurvinder Singh, whose Chauthi Koot was awarded the Best Punjabi Film. "Box office numbers shouldn't sway the decision of the jury of the National Awards. What value does Bahubali have beyond the best entertainer space," he asks. Singh says Dum Laga ke Haisha (Best Hindi Film) has a protagonist who is a member of the RSS. "Perhaps, it reflects the human side of the organisation!" Not to forget Bajrangi Bhaijaan, where Salman Khan plays the son of a RSS worker. The film helped in mainstreaming an organisation which has largely remained out of focus in cinema.
This saffron push is not the first time, though. When the Vajpayee government was in power, films likeGadar: Ek Prem Katha, Maa Tujhe Salaam and LOC: Kargil where shrill jingoism runs deep into the dialogues made it to turnstiles and Anil Kapoor snared the Best Actor Award for Pukar. This time it is more polished. Producer-director Neeraj Pandey, who seems to be on the right side with films like A Wednesday and Baby and now Rustom, defends, "I am as much a nation lover as you are. It is not about Right and Left, I am just a professional who likes to tell gripping stories. Baby was aggressive because it was about a counter intelligence unit. It was a nod to the guys who put their life in danger so that we can watch television in our living rooms." On making the patriotic layer too apparent in Rustom, which is essentially about the personal life of a soldier or the tokenism in balancing many bad Muslim characters with a good one in Baby, Pandey says, "I can't condition your take out. In Baby the head of the intelligence unit (played by Danny Denzongpa) was based on a real person."
The season is not over yet. This Diwali we have Ajay Devgn, who is said to be on the right side of the present dispensation, mounting Shivaay. Recently, he picked Indore to release the poster of his ambitious project, which seeks to evoke the spirit of Shiva in contemporary world. Producer Dhawal Gada calls it a marketing campaign very much in the same way his team put posters proclaiming Ban Taj' to push his other film Wah Taj which has been waiting in the wings for a long time. The satire is about a farmer who claims that Taj Mahal is built on his land. Gada says the politics of the time doesn't affect the films and it is all coincidence. But ask Vikram Motwane who pushed Bhavesh Joshi to backburner when the Congress lost the Lok Sabha elections and you realise there is a direct link. "Apart from other issues, we realised that people would no longer relate with the theme of corruption as much. Let the present dispensation unravel itself and we will bring it back."
Amidst all this ideological alignment there are some, who believe that art should retain its power to rock the boat.
Mahesh Bhatt is adapting his last hurrah, Zakhm for television as Namkaran. "All the fault lines that exist in the society will be reflected. We are dealing with a post 9/11, post-Paris world, which is different from the one in 1998 but the quest for identity is still alive," says Bhatt reminding that he made the Ajay Devgn-starrer during the NDA rule. "Irrespective of the hue, the state will patronise you only if you sing their song and some are ready to crawl when they are expected to just bend but there are some who are ready to walk alone and pay a price for it. The narrative of 1.2 billion Indians cannot be dyed in one colour. One should not forget Mahabharat, the defining narrative of India was written for television by Rahi Masoom Raza. This is a country where Naushad composes "Mohe Panghat Pe Nandlal Chhed Gayo Re". No government can erase the plural stream of this country."
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