Myth of the Anti-Indian Film: The misplaced attack on Dhurandhar

 I WAS SURPRISED at the outburst on the release of Dhurandhar: The Revenge. Most people commenting on the movie perhaps haven’t even watched it. Somehow, we have infected everything with politics, and cinema is no longer sacred. That is the problem. It doesn’t matter whether Dhurandhar is rightwing, leftwing, or wingless. What matters is: Did people want to see the film? The answer is yes.

They wanted to see the film because they would enjoy it. To force a narrative which seems to suggest that if you go to watch the film you are rightwing is the stupidest argument I have heard.

By that logic, you should never see any film. If people went to see Schindler’s List, were they supporting of or against Hitler’s genocide? It would be unfair to both the craft of cinema and filmmakers to continuously judge them for what they say. It doesn’t matter because none of us has paid for the film. The film is merely the creative expression of the filmmaker. To assume that every filmmaker would pursue an agenda aligned with us is foolish. Why would a filmmaker choose an agenda he doesn’t believe in?

I am of the opinion that of late many people have started commenting on things they have no idea about, and this has been stoked by social media.

For my part, I’ve acted in films. I’ve played roles in theatre. I understand the medium, and even I would hesitate to pass an opinion unless I’m asked by people really close to me, and even then, I would not blatantly tar a play or a film with a brush which is either rightwing or leftwing because that is not the nature of the beast.

In our country, we have had the glorious tradition of banning things. I remember a movie on Emergency was banned by Indira Gandhi as was the play Bhutto which I finally staged, and played the role of Bhutto, thanks to Jyoti Basu, then chief minister of West Bengal, who overturned the Centre’s ban.

And Indira Gandhi was not the first nor will she be the last to ban films that don't suit an agenda.

Most GCC countries have banned Dhurandhar: The Revenge for reasons I can’t understand. It needs more detailed analysis, but this is not the time or place.

I believe as long as we continue this tirade against people in the creative arts and force them to follow our ideology, we will kill all creativity.

Not very long ago, we ensured the banishment of one of India's finest artists, MF Husain. He died alone in England and is buried in an unmarked grave because people are worried about hooligans desecrating his grave.

This is not the India we were, and this is certainly not the India we should be. We are a nation that allows dissent. We are a nation which has encouraged all kinds of music. We are a nation whose crafts are as diverse as our opinions, and we should be celebrating that instead of constantly demeaning people we believe are anti-Indian.

There is nothing anti-Indian about a film. The film may have an anti-India subject, but if the makers, actors and producers are Indian, how can you say it’s an anti-India film? Besides, how thin-skinned have we become that we can’t take criticism even when it is in a creative form?

That’s not the kind of India we want our children to inherit. And I would urge people, before they shout from the rooftops as to which film is good and which film should be banned and why we need tax concessions, to take a deep breath. You are not a filmmaker. You never will be because the one thing you don’t respect is someone’s craft. As long as you don’t do that, you don’t have the right to have an opinion.