Would the politics of our country have been different if a movie called ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’ made by Amrit Nahata not been censored in 1975? If this seems like a frivolous question, then why was the movie banned ? Why was Sanjay Gandhi jailed for a month for allegedly destroying prints of the film? And why has the name of the film become immortal even though very few people got to actually watch the film?
This is a prophetic tale of a country called Jan Gan Desh where a (proxy) President called Gangaram and his unscrupulous makers (Mira and Gopal) first go to all lengths to lure a dumb girl called Janata into their trap, and then predictably choose to ignore her throughout the story. In the meantime they go through the usual rituals of politics – bribery, double speak, defection etc resulting in the nation being landed in a state of emergency.
Of course the disclaimer gave the mandatory statement of all characters being fictitious and any resemblance to any person coincidental.
This particular film brings to question how influential this medium can be. In our country, amongst other industries such as FMCG or Telecom, Bollywood far surpasses the distribution chain, thus reaching every household. In that context, what is the role of artists in this medium? And ultimately what are they affecting, all come under the purview of this issue. Here, we take them out of their professional prisons and place them as citizens –citizens who have an extraordinary capacity to connect with the masses.
So, when a popular film star talks about infringement of fundamental rights, we raise our ears.
Perhaps he’s talking about prohibiting all forms of child labour.
Is he talking about right to education for the masses of uneducated children?
And then in a typically Hindi film anticlimax style, he comes up with a fight against raising the legal drinking age of the youth from 21 to 25!
Seriously. Couldn’t the marketing people have at least thought of a better cause?
One which wouldn’t die down after the release of his next film?
So while Uncle sings Sun Lo Re Mitwa to a fast induced audience, nephew raises a toast to responsible drinking.
A few years ago, a model turned actress said in an interview that compared to the west, Indian celebrities don’t do enough for social causes. She added that the fault lies with our government who don’t give them enough platforms to do so. Does she read the paper beyond Page 3!
The front page of a leading paper today carries with it, a full page dummy cover advertisement of the movie to be released tomorrow. Open the paper and the headline reads ‘Villages vanish under earthquake rubble.’
Love stories take precedence over lost villages. In our lives as in our films.
Is it then a wonder that when you think of writing a piece on social conscience and Bollywood , not much comes to mind ?
Or is it that we’ve left problems of social concerns such as population control solely to 3G?
