Deconstructing PK

At the time of writing this, news are pouring in that all the previous box office records are shattered by PK, currently it is the only Hindi movie in 300 crore-club. The 'intellectual class' is genuflecting Aamir khan and Rajkumar Hirani for enlightening the masses about the social evils, superstitions and fraud gurus. The opinion about PK was swinging from critical acclaim to debunking it as trash. Well, I thought let me figure that out for myself. 

I assume you have watched the movie and thus I am saving the trouble of reviewing it. I read in some review that it’s a lift from the Robin Williams sitcom “Mork and Mindy” and adapted to Indian scenario. I’m not sure on that but its brief description looks like they are strikingly similar. Also, it goes without saying it has taken a lot from OMG! We will let that pass. In this post, I’ll try to focus on some of the issues raised in the movie.

The movie starts with making a caricature of what is perceived as popular Hinduism. It’s not the first movie to do so, of course. The director brings in the ‘godmen’, bhajans, bhakts and uses them to ridicule pop Hinduism. Sure, there are many fraudulent babas, gurus in present day India and there were such people in the past too. These kinds of people needs to be exposed for what they are, no doubt. But to paint all gurus as frauds is not only stupid but also malicious. 

In India, the Guru-Shishya parampara is held sacred from time immemorial and for a reason. In many ways, I can say this parampara is the bedrock of Hinduism. Hinduism, being a tradition which has open architecture gives people the freedom to choose whatever path they want. There is no ‘one book, one god, one messiah’ concoction in it. I guess the film makers have absolutely no issues about the faiths that administer such concoction. 

The never ending fixation with Pakistan

The heroine who is studying in Belgium falls in love with a Pakistani guy and they decide to get married. Situations force them to not get married by casting aspersions on his religion and nationality. Eventually he turns out to be a good guy after all. It has become the template of many Bollywood movies in which the heroine falls in love with a Pakistani guy. It’s difficult to understand Bollywood’s fixation and love with Pakistan and Pakistanis. It’s a subtle way of saying – “You idiots! Love knows no nationality or religion”. True, that. So romantic, you exclaim! Many Bollywood movie makers make the same job like some communist writers or naxal sympathizers do – to romanticize terror a serious issue and anyone associated with it. These are 'aman ki asha' type pacifists who advocate Gandhism even at the face of imminent death. To romanticize any issue is to kill it — in the sense, that romanticization disables the faculties to examine critical issues at hand. 

Inter-religious marriages

The portrayal of the heroine who falls in love with a Pakistani guy and the eventual turn of events is nothing but the synthetic pipedream of Hirani and his type of secularists. The parents of the heroine who happen to be Hindu object to the heroine’s desire of marrying a Pakistani and anyone with right mind would do exactly that. Forget Hindus objecting to getting their daughters married off to Pakistanis, I doubt whether even Indian Muslims can muster courage for such unnecessary adventures. The way in which it is showed out is completely divorced from reality and militates against common judgement. 

Let us ask this question – Are inter-religious marriages especially those of Hindu-Muslim so simple and based out of merely love? And no other issues involved and no implications at all? We need not go far. Just try to pick examples from the industry to which Rajkumar Hirani belongs to – Bollywood. Sharmila Tagore married MAK Pataudi and became Begum Ayesha Sultana, Amritha Singh had to convert to Islam before marrying Saif Ali Khan and there are examples of Lucky Ali and the likes. The cases where there was no need to convert, say like that of Mr. Sultan of Sanctimony Amir Khan, they would have expressed their desire explicitly of bringing up their kids as Muslims. Enough said. Needless to say, this is the case with the so-called ‘progressive’ Muslims.

The truth of the matter is Islam or Islamic law sharia’h to be specific, doesn’t recognize the marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim. Even if one marries, and refuses to convert, that marriage is unlawful according to Sharia’h. With Islam, it’s always one way street. You can get into it but can’t get out of it. This is one of the many truths that PK successfully covers up. 

Lampooning of Lord Shiva

The scene which has been the reason for the ire of many Hindus is the scene where Lord Shiva (from the protagonist’s point of view) is chased inside the toilet and also shown in his underwear. Lord Shiva is one of the important gods in the Hindu pantheon. In Yogic lore, he is considered the first and the supreme Yogi. Anyone who knows the stories of Shiva from the lore also knows that Shiva is beyond this dichotomy of good and bad, ugly and beautiful, he is often depicted as a cool man smoking chillum. So, he is a cool god. He, as with his followers would not give two hoots for this BS. He is not one of those jealous gods who might go into incessant fits and call for a divine retribution for the perceived blasphemy. Of course Hindus didn’t kill or threatened to kill Rajkumar Hirani for this. 

Self-criticism has remained the hallmark of Hindu society. Anyone who takes some pain in studying intellectual history of India would know this as a fact. Criticism is welcome. So, the issue here is not whether Hindus are offended or not by this but the dripping hypocrisy of the film makers. Any remotely similar treatment to the other revered religious figures like say Jesus or Muhammad would have had violent repercussions. With the former, the movie wouldn’t have got the clearance from censor board; with the latter the movie maker would have met his creator. They know it and they always go for the easy targets. No risks but full bounty. 

Idol worship

Idol worship is lampooned, caricatured to the cringing levels possible. In one of the scenes, the protagonist takes a stone and pastes the stone with the paan and keeps it in front of a college building. This he does to demonstrate the stupidity of the people that they worship anything. True to his claim, people worship. Ergo, people are stupid. Thus goes the argument and its interpretation. 

Now, why would anyone hate idol worship? We need to see the source of the hate of such proportions. It started with Old Testament. There are many verses in Leviticus, Ezekiel, Deuteronomy etc. which warn against the sins of idolatry and then there is the Quran – which has many injunctions to destroy idols. When the Islamic invasions happened, they didn’t just loot the temples but also destroyed all the idols and their action was not without any reason and the actions were divinely ordained.  

The fundamental difference in the position of god in Abrahamic faiths and Dharmic traditions is that, for Abrahamic faith there is a clear duality in god and his creation but whereas in case of Dharmic tradition, god is inherent in everything. Also, when a Hindu worships an idol, he is actually not worshipping that idol but the ideal i.e. god which is represented with that idol. It’s one of the ways of travelling in the path of the ultimate. There! There. You have a problem. You remember the ‘wrong number’ reference in the movie? The insinuation in often repeated reference is that there is ONLY ONE right number i.e only one right way. This is not rational speak. This is coming out from a closet Abrahamic memeplex point of view. 

Somehow, the intellectual class which includes even some well-meaning people has come to believe that there is something wrong with the multiple gods and idol worship but the concept of single god is just alright. But history demonstrates emphatically the faiths which indulged in idol worship were close to nature and never involved in violence to coerce others to their religion. But the religions which advocated in the doctrine of ‘one god, one prophet, one path and one book’ inflicted the greatest violence on the world and it bleeds the world to this very day. But hey, let truth and facts be damned! We are having a gala time and let’s enjoy till it lasts!

Double standards of Censor Board

There are so many things that can be said about the censor board, the system of rating a movie, the way in which the members of the board are appointed and the recently resigned chairperson, the ‘contrived political martyr’ Leela Samson. Leela Samson's crimes — both as the chairperson of CBFC and before assuming that position — are too many to list in a blogpost. Since these issues are beyond the scope of this post, I am not going into the details. 

 

For brevity’s sake let me sum it up – Censor board practiced different yardsticks, standards for different movies. The treatment that PK got was way different from the treatment that the movies like Ya rub, Vishwaroopam, or the recent one MSG got. It was so brazenly different. The best thing that can happen for Indian cinema is to scrap this whole farce called censor board.

In Conclusion

Now, how does these Bollywoodians get so much confidence that they assume the high pedestal and patronize and ‘educate’ Hindus about the ‘superstitions’ they are mired in? – It’s the ignorance of the Hindus they make use of. An average Hindu knows next to nothing about his own Dharma, forget knowing about hostile ideologies or predatory religions. This makes them unable to mount any kind of effective counter-arguments when their traditions, culture are falsely criticized. Many wear this ignorance as badge of honor and mistake it for scientific temper. They think the more vociferous they are in debunking the junk called ‘superstition’, the progressive they look. When they don’t have any knowledge of their tradition & culture, a sense of history, the easiest argument to fall back on is – “All religions are same” – the same cliché-ridden, banal statement which is not only erroneous but also dangerous.

It really doesn’t take any guts to come out with the work of art be it cinema, novel or whatever that are critical of Hindus and their beliefs because you can be cocksure that you won’t be killed or ostracized from the society or from your chosen area. Many regional language cinemas have done it and none of them have run into any trouble. But, it takes real guts to criticize the cherished beliefs of Islam and Christianity ; with the later, your work of art may be censured and with the former you may be killed! One could challenge these Bollywood filmmakers whether they have the mettle to criticize these two religions with the same fervor with which they have criticized Hinduism but knowing their so-called liberalism and the supposed courage is shallow and selective, you know well in advance that the supposed bet is absolutely winnable. 

The malaise is deep, the rot is deep. PK is just a symptom. With all the pomp, PK comes across as an average entertaining movie but tries to preach ‘gyan’ in the garb of being funny. Having said this, I along with many others am against banning of any movie including PK. One of the central ideas of free society is that there should free flow of opinions and ideas – however stupid they might be. And also there is no need to attribute any bad or evil motives to Rajkumar Hirani or Amir Khan in making this movie although there are many reasons to cast such aspersions. I am a firm adherent of this dictum – “Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence”!

Troy! And the train of thoughts that unfolded

A few days back I watched the movie Troy in its director’s cut version. To narrate the story shortly-it’s a story of war between the Trojans and Greeks for the queen of Spartans (Helen) who is abducted by the Trojans. I really loved the visual spectacle that the makers were able to create. Though it was criticized by many for its flaws like historical inaccuracies, poor acting by a few etc. it is one of the magnum opus projects post-2000. As a hard-case movie buff, I was discussing this with my cousin, yet another movie buff! 

Having seen many historical movies in Hollywood, I wondered why they didn’t make any significant movies about India despite the fact that India is the only continuous, oldest civilization on the earth which is replete with colorful history. Even if one were to discount the mythological stories of India still there was an ample scope of making great historical movies out of India. When you have a history of more than 5000 years, there ought to be many great historical characters, instances. For this my cousin nonchalantly replied that westerners or the people of the so-called 'first world' don’t want to see India as a land of heroes or in anyway positive (yes there are a few earnest movies like City of Joy but the numbers are very few).

There was truth in his statement. The first world still wants to see India as a land of snake-charmers and soothsayers. To satisfy their appetite for India’s portrayal as chaotic and effete nation, Hollywood churns out movie like Slumdog Millionaire which is so poor that no true Indian can like the unfaithful depiction of India. The makers have done a loathsome job of rag-pickers who have picked all the negatives possible: Drug mafia, human trafficking, prostitution, communal hatred and what not. An art-deprived movie which plays to the gallery by the over-usage of clichés, stereotypes wins Academy award for the best movie category!

Apart from the reason stated before, the other strong reason appears to be the proximity and proclivity that Hollywood has towards the Greek and Roman history. It is true both geographically and culturally. The European philosophy for instance is greatly influenced by the Greek philosophy. So, there is a cultural proximity and that doesn’t exist with India. For the west, India is still the ‘other’. To borrow a phrase from Samuel Huntington, each has been the other’s other.

Samuel Huntington in his landmark book “The clash of civilizations” explains two terms: hard power and soft power. “Hard power is the power to command resting on economic and military strength, and soft power is the ability of a state to get other countries to want what it wants through the appeal of its culture and ideology.” Soft power is power only when it rests on a foundation of hard power.

India as a country never lacked soft power. But soft power becomes a farce when it’s not supported by the hard power. India had both hard power and soft power before the advent of the British (it was the richest country in the world before 16th century). If Roman and Greek empires are remembered even to this day the reason is that the soft power comfortably rested with the foundation of hard power of military might. If the U.S is seen as the world leader today, it is because of its economic and military prowess. As India doesn’t lack soft power, in order to command respect of the west and the rest, India should work on hard power even harder.

A tryst with war movies

In Hollywood, ‘war movies’ is a genre in itself. Having seen many genres like sci-fi, romance, comedy, thriller etc I felt that I had not seen much of war movies. So I began watching war movies and for sometime that was almost the only genre I watched. Someone told it right ‘there are no war movies; there are only anti-war movies’. Yes, to a large extent the statement is right. Most of the war movies show the brutalities, causalities of war and hence give the message that war is futile. But there are some movies which see war in a dispassionate angle and don’t conclude in anyway. Usually the later kind of movies became great because they were not trying to make any statements and were just showing the war as it is.

The war movies that I have seen fall broadly into these categories:

1) Based on the two world wars
2) Based on Vietnam war
3) Based on wars fought before the world wars
4) Based on some revolutions or hypothetical wars

The events and the time period of the world war gave fodder for some of the finest war movies ever. So did the Vietnam war which was waged by the US against the popular opinion of the people.

I started watching war movies with the 1930 release All Quiet on the Western Front which is perhaps the earliest movies revolving around the world war. Then it was Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory(1957) which depicted the hostility that existed between Germany and France and how soldiers were made to act against their will and fair judgment. Some more from the category: Lawrence of Arabia(1962), The Bridge on the River Kwai(1957), The Best Years of Our Lives(1946) , Judgment at Nuremberg(1961), Letters from Iwo Jima(2006)

Next to the world war movies, the highest number of movies made about an event is on Vietnam war. The significant movies that are made are Apocalypse Now(1979), Platoon(1986), Full Metal Jacket(1987), The Deer Hunter(1978). Platoon is the movie which is directed by Oliver Stone who had first hand experience of Vietnam war as a marine corp. So that fact makes the movie more authentic. The movie Deer Hunter shows the most dangerous game of the world Russian roulette in great detail. Full Metal Jacket is one more masterpiece of Stanley Kubrick.

Among the war movies that were based on the wars before the world war, the movie 300(2006) which depicted the courage and life of Spartans stands out. Apart from that there are some good movies like Gladiator (2000) and Akira Kurusawa’s Ran (1980) which has the story of Shakespeare’s King Lear. I am yet to watch movies like Troy (2004) and Alexander (2004).

The movie The Battle of Algiers (1966) shows the Algerian struggle for independence from the French. The story is told from a neutral point without taking any sides for the portrayal. That makes the movie special. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) is a suspense thriller in which the concept of brainwashing is shown vividly. It also shows the post war trauma that people face. It is perhaps one of the best war thrillers ever made.

Movies with comic touch:

Many movies use comedy to deliver the intended message. The earliest film which used comedy to deliver the ill effects of war was of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) in which Chaplin has parodied Hitler. Don’t know whether Hitler had seen the movie or not! Then a movie about a small & happy Jewish family at the time of world war is Life Is Beautiful (1997). The film has a good mixture of humor and emotional appeal. The movie Full Metal Jacket makes profuse use of comedy. Among all the war comedy movies made, the movie which is considered to be the greatest is Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1962). The movie is considered as a masterpiece of black comedy.

The best I have seen so far:

Schindler's List (1993): This Speilberg’s masterpiece depicts the plight of Jews in the Nazi occupied Poland. The cinematography gives the film a sense of timelessness. This is a classic one. 

Inglourious Basterds(2009): I don’t know how true this story is but it is very interesting. In all the movies the Jews are the victims. For a change, in this movie a small group of Jews called Basterds hunt down Nazis and instill terror in their hearts. This is like paying with the same coin. For that factor, the film becomes dearer. 

Downfall (2004): This German movie depicts the last 10 days of Hitler’s life. The actor who has portrayed Hitler has given complete justice to the role. It is considered as an authenticated account of Hitler’s last days. 

Das Boot (1981) Another German movie which is based on the real event of German submarine which goes to attack the British side. The film gives a brilliant account of navy, wars under the sea. Technically, the film is considered perfect and the best submarine film to ever come. 

Full Metal Jacket (1987): The first part of the movie is full of comedy and is carried superbly by the brilliant acting of R. Lee Ermey. The second half gets serious with war scenes showing the difficulty of fighting in Vietnam, the sniper tactics. The movie is highly engaging and entertaining. 

Saving Private Ryan (1998): One more masterpiece of Spielberg! The depiction of war scenes is so raw and seems real. The first 30 odd minutes of the movie seems like cut and paste from the real war. So realistically it is shot. 

The Pianist (2006): This is one of the movies which doesn’t try to make any statements but gives the account dispassionately. The film is based on real story of Jewish musician Władysław Szpilman . Adrien Broody has acted brilliantly. The movie is directed by Roman Polanski who had had first hand experience of the events. 

The given list of movies is definitely not comprehensive in any way. There are still many good war movies I am yet to watch like black hawk down, good morning Vietnam, born on 4th of July and many more. So, the list goes on becoming long…

Where Inspiration means Copying – Welcome to Bollywood

We have heard many Bollywood movie makers in their interviews referring to some movie and stating that they are inspired by that movie. What they actually mean is that they have just copied the movie that they are referring to. In Bollywood parlance, inspiration means copying. Inspiration is a decent term, some kind of a euphemism.  

            It will be surprising to know that some of the famous works (if not celebrated) of some movie makers of Bollywood are just a commodity borrowed from outside but packaged in a new way to give an impression that product itself is new and genuine. When I write about this issue, some examples come to my mind.

            When I heard the story of Sanjay Leela Bansali’s movie ‘Black’, I was very much happy that at least now the industry was looking at different subjects than the regular romantic stuffs. But it was too disappointing to know that it was copy of 1962 Hollywood release ‘the miracle worker’. Same thing happened with Madhur Bhandarkar’s movie ‘life in a metro’. The subject was infidelity that existed between couples in the metropolitan cities. I thought the country was changing and after all art reflects life and the subject just reflected the current society. I was wrong when I came to know this movie was borrowed from the 1960 Hollywood flick ‘the apartment’. We all know the famous movie ‘Ghajini’ which came both in tamil and hindi was ‘inspired’ by Christopher Nolan’s movie ‘memento’, ‘ugly aur pagli’ from ‘My sassy girl’ which was in turn borrowed from a Korean movie.  These are the examples that I can think of right at this moment. There are many more copied from Hollywood or elsewhere.

            Jnanapeeth laureate, famous Kannada writer Shivarama Karanth had written a novel by name‘Chigurida Kanasu’. That was made into a movie by the same name by national award winning director Nagabharana. The movie was critically acclaimed but not a commercial success. The movie was completely copied to Hindi and was named ‘Swades’ which starred Shah Rukh Khan. The makers never gave credit to the original movie ever. There was an allegation that even the movie ‘Paheli’ was copied from the famous Kannada movie ‘Nagamandala’ which was also directed by Nagabharana.

            When I searched in Google about the Hindi movies that were copied from other sources(always uncredited of course!), the results were absolutely shocking. How would you feel when you come to know some of the movies that you adored were actually a rip off of some English movie?!! It was really shocking to know that even movies like Munnabhai MBBS, Lagaan or Sholay are copies. Then I understood why Oscar evades Bollywood. The below list gives some of the movies and their actual sources.

 

Hindi Movies	Copied From
1) Aitraaz	Disclosure
2) Baazigar	A kiss before dying
3) Chachi 420	Mrs. Doubtfire
4) Deewana Hue Paagal	There is something about Mary
5) Garam Masala	Boeing Boeing
6) Jism	Body Heat
7) Kaante	Reservoir Dogs
8) Koi Mil Gaya	E.T
9) Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya	Cactus Flower
10) Mujse Shaadi Karoogi	Anger Management
11) Murder	Unfaithful
12) Partner	Hitch
13) Raaz	What Lies Beneath
14) Sarkar	The Godfather
15) Taxi No. 9211	Changing Lines
16) Welcome	Mickey Blue Eyes
17) Josh	West Side Story
18) Krrish	Paycheck
19) Rang De Basanti	All My Sons
20) Dhoom	The Fast & The Furious
21) Kyon Ki	One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
22) Hum Tum	When Harry Met Sally
23) Kuch To Hai	I know What You Did Last Summer
24) Baadshah	Nick Of Time, The Mask, Rush Hour, Mr. Nice Guy
25) Akele Hum Akele Tum	Kramer vs. Kramer
26) Sauda	Indecent Proposal
27) Ek ruka hua faisla	12 Angry Men
28) Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya	Fatal Attraction
29) Hera Pheri	The Sting
30) Vaastu Shastra	The Grudge
31) Veer Zaara	The Hurricane
32) Qayamat	The Rock
33) Sangharsh	Silence Of The Lambs
34) Musafir	U Turn
35) Bluffmaster	Spanish Movie Nueve reinas(Nine queens)
36) Munnabhai MBBS	Patch Adams
37) Phir Herapheri	Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
38) Chak de india	Mighty ducks
39) Mohabbatein	Absolution
40) Rangeela	Win a date with Tad Hamilton
41) Sholay	The Magnificent Seven
42) Chalte Chalte	Forget Paris
43) Masti	Whipped
44) Har Dil Jo Pyaar Kareega	While you were sleeping
45) Kuch Kuch Hota Hai	Sleepless in Seattle
46) Lagaan	Victory
47) Kuch Na Kaho	Jerry Maguire
48) Main Hoon Na	Never Been Kissed
49) Agneepath	Scarface
50) Aradhana	To Each His Own

 

           Among these movies or for that matter any movies that are copied,  some are copied scene to scene from the original while in some others only plots are copied and they are tailored to suit the nativity. But, both amount to plagiarism. The Bollywood people get away with the lawsuits for plagiarism because of two main reasons:

1)       The original movie makers don’t even know that their moviers are being copied

2)       The exposure of Indian viewers to world cinema is less (The trend is changing of late)

            All these don’t mean to say that the Hollywood film makers are paragons of virtues who never get ‘inspired’. They do copy (but not to this dirty extent!!). Otherwise there would not have been any lawsuits against them. But the appreciable fact in case of Hollywood is that it has hardly faced any dearth of ideas. They always come with completely new stuffs every time. Bollywood film makers have to learn from them. But not very much can be expected from them when the very word ‘Bollywood’ is ‘inspired’ from Hollywood. But it seems greener days are ahead after the movies like ‘Taare Zameen Par’, ‘A Wednesday’ or ‘3 idiots’. At least let’s hope so!!