Silver screen salute

How’s the josh (spirit), the Major bellows. High, Sir, the troops scream back. The men are about to enter Pakistan, to avenge its attack on a camp in Uri in India. A surgical strike has been planned, and the target is the Pakistani Army.

As the national flag unfurls across the country today to mark its 70th Republic Day, avid cine-goers will be watching Uri: The Surgical Strike , a film on the September 2016 counter-attack in Pakistan. This is India on the offensive, the film makes clear at the very beginning. It’s a ‘New India’, “ Jo ghar me ghusega bhi aur maarega bhi ” — the one that will not just force its way into the enemy’s house, but kill as well. And the Major and his men in Uri are waiting to do just that.

Bollywood has had its share of nationalist or war films. But critics believe that jingoism has been given a new turn in the Vicky Kaushal-starrer. It’s in-your-face, and it’s bloody. The new India is underlined everywhere — including in a sequence aptly titled New India — in the 160-minute long saga. Unlike critically acclaimed American war films such as Dunkirk , Full Metal Jacket or Zero Dark Thirty , a genre Uri seeks to belong to, the Hindi film does not linger on the futility of war. In the January 11 release, the soldiers are full of righteous anger, all ready to taste blood and prove the supremacy of their nationality through it.

Lookalike: Anupam Kher took six months to agree to play Dr Manmohan Singh in The Accidental Prime Minister

Hindi films have largely been apolitical, even though many luminaries in the industry have, over the years, joined politics. But a spate of films today has not just been wearing patriotism on its sleeve but is seemingly adopting political lines as well. Vijay Ratnakar Gutte’s The Accidental Prime Minister , based on Sanjaya Baru’s account of his days as an adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office, may not have won much acclaim but has widely been described by critics as a new chapter in propaganda cinema.

Politics is the leitmotif that runs through a swathe of films — just released or work-in-progress. From Thackeray, Raazi , Mulk and Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran to The Ghazi Attack and the upcoming Taskhkent Files , cinema has a political subtext. A biopic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — tentatively called PM Narendra Modi — is also on the anvil.

Building of a nation: Gold, an Akshay Kumar-starrer, focusses on the real-life story of the Indian hockey team’s experience at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Of course, patriotism evoked by war has been a favourite theme with filmmakers over the years, starting right from Haqeeqat (1964) and Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973) to Border (1997). “But Bollywood has departed from the trend of making socialist and inclusive films such as Haqeeqat to cinema that is increasingly more upper caste and class and is being defined as patriotic films,” says Bina Paul, director of International Film Festival of Kerala.

The India-China war gave way to conflicts with Pakistan when it came to storylines, a theme that was further triggered by the rise of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. In Uri , too, militancy in Kashmir is the underlying theme.

“As a Kashmiri, I have seen both the Army and terrorism at close quarters, and this film is my tribute to the Indian Army, which is one of the most secular and diverse organisations in the world,” says Uri director Aditya Dhar.

The new spate of films has also raised eyebrows because it comes in an election year. The grapevine has it that the Anupam Kher-starrer The Accidental Prime Minister — where Manmohan Singh is shown as an ineffectual, hand-wringing prime minister — is being dubbed in southern Indian languages and being readied for release before the polls. Some sections believe that Uri ’s anti-Pakistan slogans may also help polarise votes.

National pride: Border (1997) was the highest grossing film the year it released

“There is a definite reason why these films are being released around this time, before the elections,” says Paul. “However, these are just fleeting films that do not stay with the audience, unlike, say, films on the human condition, which are universal in their appeal. But some people are taking advantage of a temporary situation in the country and trying to capitalise on it,” she argues.

Film director Anurag Kashyap does not believe Uri has an agenda. “The jingoism spouted in Uri is not as much as the jingoism I see in American movies or war movies from anywhere across the world,” he has said in a recent tweet. Kashyap sees Uri largely as a well-made film on the lines of Hollywood greats. Earlier Hindi war films, he argues, rode on sentimentality, whereas Uri , he holds, will be remembered for its superlative filmmaking.

The fact is the surgical strike of 2016 stoked up a controversy — and the embers are still flying. The NDA government at the Centre saw it as a display of the might not just of the Army, but also the government, whereas the Opposition said a military action was being hyped up for political gains. The film, in that sense, can be read as endorsing the government. Critics have pointed out that characters in the film resemble current members of the Union Cabinet, from home minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The film certainly has got its audience baying for Pakistan’s blood. “The response that we have been getting is unprecedented. It is for the first time, perhaps, that multiplexes are seeing people cheering, whistling for the nation. People carried flags into the theatre and were shouting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’,” Dhar tells BL ink .

A nation remembers: The surgical strike of 2016 stoked up a controversy and the embers are still flying

Critics, however, are divided over whether the film can at all be classified as propaganda. Dhar certainly doesn’t think so. “I have no political agenda, and I believe that in a democracy there should be space for debate and dissent. No government is above criticism. However, I don’t think we should question the sacrifice the Army makes on the border; that is something that disturbs me,” Dhar says.

Kashyap holds that Dhar’s film marks a new trend in war filmmaking, and shows the evolution of war sentiments. Scriptwriter Varun Grover, on the other hand, doesn’t see a transition. “I don’t see any evolution from films such as Border or Kargil that glorify the Army, and I don’t define them as a patriotic film,” the writer of Masaan says.

Others point out that not all war or so-called patriotic films fall in the same category. Take Raazi, Meghna Gulzar’s 2018 film, an adaptation of the real-life story of a woman who was a spy for India and married, at her father’s request, a Pakistani man from a military family before the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. The critically acclaimed film focussed on patriotism and community, underscoring the similarity and ties between the people on the two sides of the border.

Coloured lens: The jury is out on whether Uri can be classified as a propaganda film

The question being asked is whether the screening of films that have a subtext supporting an ideology can end up rooting for a party. Some in the industry — who wish to remain unnamed — believe that they will. “There are rumours that a BJP worker is giving away Uri tickets for free,” says an insider.

But, he stresses, the hold on the audience will also depend on how good a film is. “While Uri did well at the box office, the same can’t be said of The Accidental Prime Minister . You can’t sell any picture by just saying ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. It has to have a good storyline,” says the Bollywood insider.

The producer of The Accidental Prime Minister , Sunil Bohra, shrugs off allegations that the film is propagandist. “We stuck to whatever was written in the book the film was based on. It was very difficult at first to get someone to play the role of Manmohan Singh, as it is such a political subject. Anupam Kher took six months to agree, but he said ‘yes’ the day he read the script,” he says.

Bohra doesn’t think there is anything unethical about portraying a still active political figure, so close to the elections. “The film has stayed very close to the book, and it is really more about Singh’s journey. People should watch it and give it a chance before forming an opinion.”

Politics and patriotism have been showcased in Hindi films in diverse ways. Among the first political films in modern times was Kissa Kursi Ka, a satire on the Congress party. Then came Gulzar’s Aandhi (1975) , which some believed was based on the life of Indira Gandhi while others thought centred on former Odisha chief minister Nandini Satpathy.

The 1990s-2000s saw films such as Rang de Basanti (2006), Swades (2004), Lakshya (2004) and Sarfarosh (1999), films that were youth-centric and celebrated the coming-of-age of the characters, a metaphor for the growth of the nation.

“Films are a reflection of the society we live in. During Rang De Basanti , the country was seeing citizens’ participation in movements such as candle-light marches, and the film was a reflection of that. The times have changed now, and Uri is a reflection of this,” the Bollywood watcher says.

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Hindi cinema has also looked at the issue of patriotism through the prism of sports. For almost two decades now, sport dramas have emerged as a genre that leverages patriotism to propel its storyline. Lagaan (2001) was among the first to do so. Aamir Khan also came out with Dangal (based on the Haryana-based wrestling champions, the Phogat sisters), a 2016 film that has made the most money in Bollywood so far. Mary Kom (2014), based on the life of the boxing champion, is another sports-related film, as are Shah Rukh Khan’s Chak De! India (2007) and the Farhan Akhtar-starrer Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013). The films had a rah-rah spirit, and underscored a sense of nationalism. But, as another critic points out, they were not politically or otherwise divisive. A 2016 film such as Gold, for instance, focused largely on India’s dream for a gold medal in the Olympics.

“The film tried to weave in the history of India’s independence and its first gold medal as a free country, based on true events that transpired in the 1948 summer Olympics,” says Gold director Reema Kagti. “I feel that it celebrates our past, and it is patriotic in that sense, but I do not subscribe to the use of the word to push personal agendas.”

But while films about sports may or may not get the adrenaline pumping, there may be some hoping that cinema will help whip up passions — or garner votes — before the elections. “Actors and directors are not completely divorced from what they’re portraying on the screen,” says Kagti. “You would naturally be inclined to be a part of stories in which you agree with the narrative.”

Grover agrees. Filmmakers, he believes, are partly responsible for the message that goes forth from a film, “Cinema is a director and writer’s medium. The ethics of a film’s direct or indirect message rests with them,” he says. In this context, he argues that The Accidental Prime Minister is propagandist. “But in a democracy, I’m all for propagandist art,” Grover stresses.

That the nexus between politicians and the industry is growing stronger became clear last week when Prime Minister Modi chatted with Bollywood actors in Delhi at a meeting organised among others by director-producer Karan Johar. A selfie — Modi surrounded by film stars, directors and others — occupied much of social media space last week. Johar described the meeting in an Instagram post as “powerful and timely conversations” which, he hoped, would become a regular exchange.

Not everybody saw the meet and the flurry of selfies in the same vein. “It helps the industry to be on the right side of the government, let’s just say that. And the government takes advantage of the media attention and popularity that the celebrities enjoy,” said the industry insider.

Days after the get-together with Modi, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor met representatives of the industry, including director Mahesh Bhatt, in Mumbai. “Spent nearly three hours with film industry veterans to discuss what the film industry would like to see in the @INCIndia manifesto. Many useful ideas emerged which will be put to the party’s Manifesto Committee. India needs a thriving cinema,” Tharoor tweeted.

The tug-of-war between the Congress and the BJP — with the industry in the middle — is on. Last Saturday, Modi inaugurated the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai, attended by a host of cinema celebrities.

“How’s the josh ,” Modi asked the gathering. “High, Sir!”, the audience replied.

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