Mockery of Religion in Films? DT Note: Pg10

Originally posted by: JanakiRaghunath

Amazing topic, Anisha!

Very well written and great examples provided.👏👏 You asked this question "Do you think it's okay to slightly satirize/poke fun at religion in mainstream cinema? Even if no harm/malice is intended?" My answer is NO, because religion is a route taken to achieve self-actualization for many people and when one pokes fun at it, it's an indirect way of looking down on religious people as if their beliefs are regressive and belonging to the "stone age". My feelings exactly! I've been noticing a trend of making fun of religious people in the media. At first my instinct was to just brush it off and move on with life, but it's SO recurrent nowadays that it's getting annoying and I had to speak up. Actually, this point is better illustrated by Shivang bhaiyya's example than mine. If you watch 1:02 to 1:22 of the the second video in the first post, you will see the extent of this unfortunate mockery. And I hate it when modern people dismiss religion as a thing of the past. Personally, I like to think of myself as pretty "modern" and open-minded, but I still love my religion and respect old customs along with embracing the new. Many modern people nowadays think belonging to a religion as regressive, and that they are "spiritual" but not religious. And I honestly don't understand how one can be "spiritual" but not "religious." The core of spirituality is religion. Some people say that they're spiritual in the sense that they believe everything in the universe is interconnected and that they are a part of it (or something along those lines) but that sounds hypocritical in itself. Without a God, the universe would be nothing but a mere collection of inanimate objects. I can respect even atheistic people as long as they do not mock religion but do not believe in it for their own personal reasons, but I cannot and will not respect someone who is apparently "modern" and thinks that requires them to criticize religion and God. When one becomes educated, they should behave in a manner that shows them to be educated but often, so many educated people behave in an uneducated, disrespectable manner that in no way places them on a higher pedestal than uneducated folk. Learning and believing in science does not mean we shun God in our lives, as so many people wrongly think.

But the worst thing is that media nowadays supports such behavior. So often in movies we see characters remark, "Pray to Ram, not Krishna, because Ram was an eka patnivrat whereas Krishna had many wives" as if praying to Lord Krishna would make their husband have affairs. Another remark is "Ram banished his pregnant wife to the forests, so if we take Ram Rajya as an ideal the woman in our nation will become destitute" or "Ram himself asked Sita to give an agni pariksha so why is it wrong for a husband nowadays to doubt his wife when she's out of his sight?".😒

Also, music is a big thing as you demonstrated through the videos you posted. The Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram tune from KKHH is so shocking and a total mockery of the beautiful song!🤢 It also teaches the youth that the elderly are the religious folk and the youth should be "modern" in thinking or else they will not be accepted by society.

Here are some videos I myself would like to share from tollywood that insult religious and/or specific Gods.

A "modern" rendition of Govind Bolo Hari Gopal Bolo:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlUOjXdUSiE[/YOUTUBE]

Watch from 2:40 - 3:40:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9_k2Z1wh4U&list=UUPA2GsTGizZnk7uh3CgmfTw&index=12&feature=plcp[/YOUTUBE]

^^In the above video, the wife suspects her husband has a mistress and he swears on God that he doesn't. She asks him which God he swears on and he says Krishna. She yells at him again saying, "So you have not one, but many set-ups?!" Before he quickly changes his answer to Ram.

I saw the second video and I noticed what you meant I understand it was supposed to be funny and that there have to be moments in films in which the audience finds some humor, but this is a perfect example of humor in bad taste. No one should make fun of God, whether they believe in God or not. And humor can be created in many other ways. This wasn't funny at all.

And as a whole, I think the media should have a sense of social responsibility. Progress doesn't mean sacrificing treasures such as belief and devotion. Having a more secular/science-based view towards life is exactly what these kinds of portrayals encourage. I know many Indians that go to my uni that are atheist/not religious, and I think it's partly because of what they've been used to seeing their whole life. It's quite sad actually.

Aweosme topic Anisha! 👏

I agree...it is NOT ok to slightly satirize/poke fun at religion in mainstream cinema. To me, it's totally disgusting.🤢 I get angry when I see the carelessness with which religion and devotion is depicted in these "modern" films! Do they even realise the harm they're doing?

Here are some more examples:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUBiAy8NB7U[/YOUTUBE]

DL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUBiAy8NB7U

^ The popular Dum Maaro Dum...tell me, who after watching this wouldn't think people chanting "Hare Krishna Hare Ram" are a bunch of doped up hippies?!

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CMBCfxN1lU[/YOUTUBE]

DL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CMBCfxN1lU

^ The even more disgusting remix of Dum Maaro Dum!