(The Times of India
2 February 2007)
CENSORED by the mob... again
[ 1 Feb, 2007 2116hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
As another film – Parzania – falls foul with the mob and is banned in Gujarat, BT explores why India is scared to tell real stories and look within.
It is the same story all over again. A film that is passed by the government and the censors falls foul of a few people, who raise hell and ensure that it is pulled off the theatres and banned.
This time, the film is Parzania that tells the story of a Parsi couple who lost their son during the Gujarat riots. On the other side of the fence are the Bajrang Dal and its threat to cause trouble if their diktat is not obeyed.
And getting a sense of deja vu are the filmmakers who tried to tell the story as it was and faced the mob's wrath.
While most are compelled to call this reaction "insensitive", Anurag Kashyap – whose Black Friday deals with Mumbai riots – says, "I will call it non-democratic.
It is the government's job to restrain groups like the Bajrang Dal, which clearly impede the flow of free will. Our films make that clan uncomfortable, so they ban them.
To get political mileage, non-issues rapidly become issues and the rest of the crowd becomes a victim of the herd mentality.
"Having acted in Parzania, Naseeruddin Shah reasons, "The people who think the movie should not be screened obviously have something to hide. The movie doesn't hint at anything scandalous, then who are they afraid of? Is it to hide the fact that these riots weren't in the list of spontaneous events but were politically engineered?"
But why do Indians refuse to delve into recent history and introspect? Director of Parzania, Rahul Dholakia answers, "It is because we satisfy ourselves with halfachieved targets. Gujarat has come a long way when it comes to economic development but it stinks of another form of fascism when you talk about intellectual growth. Why call a state vibrant when we are pulling down a society on the other hand, doesn't that make it anti-vibrant? A free spirit and a free mind are not respected."
Naseer adds to Rahul's point of view, "Unfortunately Indians are the keepers of the world's morals, we were the first to ban Satanic Verses, so it doesn't shock me."
The Bajrang Dal, meanwhile, is happy with the ban it has brought about. Prakash Sharma, All India convener, Bajrang Dal comments, "I have neither seen the movie nor talked with the Gujarati folk, but seeing the opposition I can say that the movie must've had a malafide intention behind it.
Why doesn't someone make a movie on the kids in Nithari or the extremities in Kashmir? I'll call movies like Water conspiracies. And if the lost kid has to be found, then his pictures can be stuck around the country."
The writing is on the wall but authorities aren't ready to pay heed. As Rakesh Sharma, the director of Final Solutions, which also met the same fate, says, "There are two aspects to this situation, first that we are actually afraid and second stems from a cultural tendency that forces us to believe that it's not pleasant to open old wounds. If a handful of people are holding this film to ransom and the I&B Ministry is not doing anything, it is a sad commentary on the state of affairs. This is hardly democracy."
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