The uproar over Vishwaroopam and Ashis Nandy’s remarks is a reflection of our growing intolerance for different points of view.
The speed with which our tolerance is falling to fragile levels is petrifying. First, some fringe Muslim groups in Tamil Nadu waved the red flag to Kamal Haasan’s film Vishwaroopam and managed to get a 15-day “ban” on the screening of the movie in Tamil Nadu. And, now, we have the Dalit, tribal and OBC lobbies, along with politicians like the Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, baying for the blood of political psychologist Ashis Nandy for his controversial comment on corruption among these groups.
Kamal’s espionage thriller has run into rough weather with some Tamil Muslim groups, who found the actor guilty of depicting Muslims as terrorists. The Jayalalithaa Government’s swift response to put a 15-day “ban” on Vishwaroopam’s release might puzzle some, and appear “political” to others in a State where the film industry is so closely tied to politics. But its decision could be linked to the siege of the US Consulate in Chennai last year by a mob of Muslims. At that time, the protest was over the ludicrous movie Innocence of Muslims produced by Nakoula alias Sam Becile, who got his moment in the sun through Muslim protests around the world.
Secular credentials
But while that was a deliberate and ill-disguised attempt to infuriate Muslims by denigrating Prophet Mohamed, targeting an actor and film-maker like Kamal Hasan is most unfortunate. First of all, the secular credentials of Kamal, a member of Harmony India, are well known. If at all, in the past, as the actor-director pointed out in an interview, he has been dubbed a “Muslim sympathiser….I am very careful in saying what I say. I’ll never make a film for the lark of it. I am very cautious when I make a film not to hurt the larger sentiment.”
He has even gone as far as to say that “nationalist and patriotic Muslims” would love his film and that it was “the most Muslim-friendly film that I have seen in recent times.”
But who is listening? That the film has been subjected to a rigorous level of scrutiny after the Central Board for Film Certification had cleared it, with some deliberations but no cuts, is an indicator of the increasing levels of our intolerance.
Chennai’s Muslims who took the city police completely by surprise during the anti-American protests, virtually brought traffic to a halt on the arterial roads of Chennai for a few days before things were restored to normalcy. Having tasted blood then, some other fringe elements have erupted again now.
A dangerous trend
The surprising, as well as sad, element in this muscle flexing is that Tamil Nadu’s Muslims have never been known for their militancy or hard stance when it comes to religion. This was reinforced most forcefully after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 when communal riots erupted across India. Tamil Nadu had remained a haven of communal peace and was often quoted as an exemplar of tempered behaviour. That some of its Muslims are now increasingly taking to the streets to protest this or that is a dangerous trend which needs to be nipped in the bud.
I have no idea of what exactly these Muslims are objecting to in Kamal’s film. But one of the Muslim leaders, who was part of the group to which the actor had shown the movie, after it was cleared by the Censor Board, ranted on a TV channel on how the film showed a terrorist recite a prayer from the Koran, and chant Allaho Akbar before killing somebody.
Pardon me if I’m wrong, but which Muslim terrorist has been known/seen to open a bottle of Scotch before detonating a bomb? Isn’t the indoctrination and brainwashing of gullible Muslims and their conversion to terrorism always done in the name of religion? Also, doesn’t Aamir Khan’s Fanaa, which was opposed in Gujarat and not by Muslims, also show the protagonist as a terrorist? Countless other Hindi films have had the same theme. When there were no protests against these films, why is Vishwaroopam being targeted? At the most, you can accuse Indian filmmakers of portraying stereotypical Muslims, but then Hindi cinema does the same with South Indians, and more particularly Tamils, speaking English with an atrocious accent. To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any vicious attempt to denigrate Islam as was done by Bacile who made the American video clip against the Prophet.
Madras High Court’s Justice K. Venkataraman watched the movie on Saturday and will pass orders on Tuesday. But meanwhile, he has suggested that the film-maker “explore all possibilities” to find an “amicable” solution to the issue with the Government. If Kamal is forced to do that, it will be a sad day for creative freedom and he will be justified in dubbing these protests as “cultural terrorism”.
Moving over from Chennai to Jaipur, the storm of protests against Ashis Nandy is another example of another group’s attempts to stifle freedom of expression.
Nandy in trouble
The whole affair is even more unfortunate because Nandy’s comments on the corruption among Dalits, tribals and OBCs have been taken out of context and twisted. A careful reading of the sequence of that particular discussion at the Jaipur Literary Festival shows that the burden of his song was that while the more privileged, elite upper classes indulge in corruption in insidious and more subtle ways — such as getting fellowships for their wards at Harvard — leaders of the socially marginalised sections do it in a more detectable manner such as garnering licence to a petrol pump.
Let us be honest. Can we deny the absolute truth of what he is saying? Does the list of our illustrious netas caught in the net of corruption charges not include the likes of “tall leaders” of the socially-disadvantaged such as Mayawati, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh, JMM chief Shibu Soren, former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda and, more recently, the Dalit face of the DMK, A Raja?
The discussion was on pastmasters (the privileged classes who had the first shy at power in our Republic) at the game of corruption being slippery eels vis-à-vis the new entrants to power such as the Dalits, tribals and OBCs. Poor Nandy had to slip out of Jaipur and now faces a plethora of complaints and cases. It is all the more distressing to think that this happened to a psychologist who has always batted for the deprived and marginalised in his writing and at public fora. Needless to say, the utmost damage was done to Nandy by TV channels which pulled out one of his statements out of context and kept repeating it on 24x7 telecasts.
Unfortuantely, Tamil Nadu’s Muslims and Nandy’s detractors are only reinforcing stereotypes… that Muslims are absolutely intolerant and the other group wants the licence of doing anything under the “socially oppressed” label.
Responses to rasheeda.bhagat@thehindu.co.in and blfeedback@thehindu.co.in
Keywords: cultural terror and Vishwaroopam, Kamal Haasan, Ashis Nandy, Muslim groups opposition to Vishwaroopam, cinema, Censor Board
Comments:
"... ranted on a TV channel on how the film showed a terrorist recite a prayer from
the Koran, and chant Allaho Akbar before killing somebody... "
Almost every single propaganda video from Al-Qaeda used for recruiting shows
them reciting the Koran before they show them killing someone.
Where was the offense and outrage then? If this outrage was communicated as
effectively in response to the jihadist videos from the muslim extremists, it would
have provided the misguided youth a powerful counter-point to think about.
Unfortunately, by expressing outrage now against a person of secular credentials it
ironically has the opposite consequence of strengthening the argument of the
jihadists who use the name of Allah and Islam to justify their wicked killings and
silencing the sensible majority who are afraid to speak out and be vilified.
Asish Nandi is not just any individual, but a learned one who could
easily frame his discourse without being misunderstood. Communication
was the issue that got clobbered. Why was it that a renowned
psychologist could not understand this basic requirement of sharing
ideas? Why was in a hurry? Why couldn't he take his sweet time and
explain it the way it had been explained here? Why was this an issue
with more focus and energy in a literature convention? Questions still
remain unanswered. Who should be blamed for this? Dalits? The media?
Nandi himself?
So now youcanonlytalkaboutuppercaste Hindus in mainstream movies. Safest.
In my opinion the crux of the problem lies in defining people in terms of caste,
religion or language. We are in country with states divided on language. Of the
people given special treatment for caste. or for being a "minority". Its time we
abolished reservations of any kind and welcome a world where democracy is lived to
the fullest with freedom and liberty for one and for all. Will we ever see a politician in
our lifetimes who could have the integrity and courage to even suggest that? Sigh!
Utopia..
madame,your article clearly exposes growing intolerence. Only the
implementation of Lokpal both at Central level and State level can
control the corruption. Prof.Abdul Kalam's view that family member's
criticism of their bread winners indulging in corrupt activities is
also a feasible solution. While the tamil film Thuppakki got away
without much trouble because actor Vijay's father is ruling party
associate whereas Kamalahasan could not get away because he is not
close to the ruling party which seems to believe in vote bank
politics.
This is a well-reasoned out story. At this rate, "tolerance" may slip out of our dictionary sooner than later. Let us wish that Kamal Hasan does not buckle under pressure. Best wishes to him!
Whatever is happening is unfortunate. The High Court has not been fair in the case at all. There are reports that the judge had remarked that the unity of the country is more important thant he individual. If this is true, then the remark is totally unfortunate. The duty of the courts is to ensure fairness. In all fairness, the court should have clearly directed the government to ensure the release of the film and also should have directed protection to the producers and exhibitors as it is the duty of the government to ensure Law and Order. Is the judge of the opinion that the release of the film will affect unity and cause sever unrest. Even if he has such an opinion is that not a micro misiscule opinion even though he may be a judge? In a democracy where people reign supreme, it is best left to the judge to invoke the precedent set by the highest court of the land. Is he above Supreme Court? If after the release there is severe unrest thenthestatecan interfere. Untilthen no
Politicking in the name of religion has been focused on the social actor
Kamal, endlessly. Let Kamal act in cinemas with the animals, Oh! Blue
Cross would come into action….. We suggest Kamal to act in family
stories rather than the terror movies. There are enough medias 24x7 on
funded basis in the society towards provoking cultism.
The article has missed out certain facts which should be placed on record. It would be wrong to record that the community has been tolerant even after Babri Masjid demolition. Though this is absolutely correct for the majority of the community inthe state, the group which is against Vishwaroopam does not have a clean slate. The spate of bomb explosions in Coimbatore during and after Advani's visit showed that the group had active connections with the SIMI and was banned by the then DMK. Also the same group threatened the makers of Thupakki and actor Vijay where Vijay's father had to assure them that he will play a muslim in a film. The history of the group is never democratic and its sad that none have condemned them for such acts then and are not condemning now. If a group of people is wrong they are wrong why even the media is scared to call a spade a spade. The Hindu group never wasted a single instance to discredit the BJP. Why double standards?
We live in a degenerate form of democracy where progressive thoughts
are punished, and mob behavior is encouraged. What our leaders promise
before elections - not progress, but unfair advantage to some section
of the society which is their major vote bank. What they use to win
the election - a mob. So, how can we expect them to act otherwise,
once they have come to power and have an assured free hand so long as
they support such factions?
It is often said that don't bring forth just a problem, but also a
solution to the same. Unfortunately, there is no solution that I can
think of. The reason being, progressive part of our society will
always think in terms of national parties, in order to have a uniform
policy across all states. While, these very parties are at the
forefront of such outrageous behavior. Any individual efforts do not
get support of the masses, as mass is also looking for their share of
unfair advantage instead of a fair and free society.
I have watched vishwaroopam and I have found no issue with it. I don't
understand why the ban occurred in the first place. It is sad that we are so afraid of certain
communities and are hampering our cultural freedom.
I endorse every word of this article titled "Cultural terror takes
VISHWAROOPAM " published in today's BL.It is obvious that the groups
opposing Kamal's film have some other considerations as well.
Please continue to write without any "hope of a
season's fame".
The article is so good, excellent...congrats
I have not seen the film yet, will be seeing shortly as I like Kamal
Hassan very much.
RASHEEDA BHAGAT PL Come out with more such articles. Strange we call ourselves the world's largest DEMOCRACY, 800 MILLION OR MORE VOTE, WE SAY WE HAVE A CONSTITUTION, here is a very famous actor producing a movie pretty similar to what we see as news almost weekly or daily in Indian & INTERNATIONAL TV.
WHATS all this about? the court virutually says DONT COME TO ME SETTLE IT BETWEEN YOURSELVES.Are we truly a democracy? what about the rights of this famous actor, producer, direction, who India knows is not at all communal, but caught in vote bank politics and has to lose huge amounts since he can't have his movie released in his own State.
As usual a thought provoking article from the writer. As she has
observed rightly so, it is quite puzzling that increasingly the
Thamizh Muslims tend to associate themselves with alien Saudi Islam.
Even in the TV debates in thamizh news channels, the participants
openly says that they share a cultural similarity with Afghan
Muslims! By these stupid acts, these peoples are inadvertently
strengthening the hands of Right wing Hindu forces. Whether one like
it or not, the harsh truth now a days emerges from good number of
masses are, that, too much of appeasement has gone to Muslims and
Dalits, which is of course, not the actual fact. If the perception is
allowed to linger,then, I am afraid, we as a society are heading for
a disaster.
Regards
Shriram. T.K.L
Atleast now the politicians, Indian cinema houses, journalists and other
walks of life who always hitting the majority Hindus whenever they
getting the chance as Hindus are always peace loving people, hereafter
they will realise the greatness of Hindus. There is no tolerance left
when you say something about other religions.This must be the wake up
call for all such Hindu religion baiters.
It is a always a pleasure to read Ms.Rasheeda Bhagat's articles. The
moment people reach positions of power, whether FC or BC, power goes
to their head and the cunning of reason comes to play. Their warped
minds wreck the system and they mulct their companies to benefit
themselves. I have seen great intellectuals fall a prey to the lure
of money. Corruption, like terrorism has no color,caste or creed.
My favourite is a Shakespearean quote on the power hungry:-
But man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority
Most ignorant of what he is
His glassy essence, like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks against high heavens
As make angels weep.
Courage is to stand up and speak and courage is to sit down and
listen.
Indian (Hindu) have always been a follower and never a leader, we have been ruled by Muslim, British and what not. The days are not far away, if we do not do something about intolerance by others. I know the ministers and the rich will leave India with their family and go west, but for the majority; history will repeat once again and it will be painful for the younger generation. We old folks would simply die of heart attack. Enjoy while you can.
The snake of religious fundamentalism once again rears it's ugly head.
And this time it is biting the very hand which has fed it !
The original mistake was back in 1950 when we agreed to have religion
based personal or other laws introduced in our country. Once these
groups tasted success in introducing Sharia law into the constitution
, the day is not far when they will soon start to demand for total
Sharia.
How can we call ourselves a "secular" country if there exist special
religion based laws ? We should emulate the US and French
constitutions and remove all religion based laws from the
constitution. Secularism does NOT mean protecting ancient and barbaric
practices. Instead it means a strict seperation of Religion and State.
On the other hand in India the State is always ready in the name of
"secularism" to keep feeding these regressive forces on any issue as
long as there are enough "numbers".
There is a reference to Muslims of Chennai. Do the people who came on the streets truly represent this group ? My answer - NO.
As always, the vast majority of Muslims of this country, patriotic and peace loving are being labelled something they are not.
It is unlikely that we will ever know the true force or the true set of persons behind this unfortunate and shameful "protest". Madam CM has chosen not to deal with this threat firmly. Given that she does not need these votes, it is all the more surprising.
The good news is that this movie is opening to record attendance all over S India and people from TN are making trips just to watch the movie. Will Madam CM understand what the people want ?
Abdicating her responsibility to defend law and order and capitulating to fringe groups she has failed. It would really be in the fitness of things for her to organize a public screening at the Marina , attend it herself and then ask those who dislike to say their piece....
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