Mahesh Bhatt speaks of his film Dhokha - institutionalisation of Communal biases

(The Times of India
29 Aug 2007)

Q&A: 'Communal biases have been institutionalised'


Mahesh Bhatt’s prolific and provocative output of films as writer, director and producer has always challenged the status quo. One of the recurrent themes in his film is the precarious position of the Indian Muslim, a theme that he takes on headlong in his new film Dhokha that he has written. He talks to Subhash K Jha:

Dhokha addresses itself to the question of Muslim identity vis-a-vis Islamic terrorism. Why now?

I don’t think i could’ve chosen a better time for the film. This is the 60th year of our independence. On August 15, I went into the heartbeat of the Muslim population in Mumbai. I heard out three Muslim leaders who were also members
of the Maharashtra legislature council. They felt there was a septic wound festering in the Muslims’ hearts. The leaders felt the efforts of secular Indians are going waste. Muslims by and large do not share the jubilant mood of independent India. What i’ve shown in Dhokha is something i’ve witnessed first-hand. There’s a despair emanating from Muslim pockets. I feel no matter which government came into power and whatever the colour of its ideology, the mindset of the majority remained unchanged. I feel the communal biases have been institutionalised. Even if you are a leader who’s an embodiment of secularism the instruments that you use to bring about your goals have become contaminated by communal biases.

What’s Dhokha about?

Dhokha is the story of a young educated sensible rational Indian Muslim cop who deals squarely with the wrath of both the communities. His life is torn apart when his wife is blown up in a terrorist attack and she’s accused of being a human bomb.

The identity of the Indian Muslim has haunted you for a long time, perhaps because of your mixed Hindu-Muslim parentage?

Yes, it has. I share every bit of my protagonist’s anguish in Dhokha. I’ve lived with the anguish of my Muslim friends. I dealt with this 10 years ago in Zakham. That was autobiographical. But even fiction is based on your own truths. Dhokha is a film with a lot of restrained anger. It’s pro-life with its heart in the right place. It doesn’t hesitate to lock horns with both kinds of terrorists, in and out of uniform. The state has betrayed its people. A TV channel recently showed the broad-daylight on-camera ‘encounter’ killing of a man by a cop. Oh my God! The police in our country is also in a denial mode.

Dhokha conveys the resonances of our times. But it also says, mere lamentation won’t get the Muslim anywhere. We need to fix the system. The Muslim needs to aggressively rescue his faith from the handful of terrorists who condone the bloodshed of terrorists. The protagonist in Dhokha is determined that he won’t allow these murderers to interpret his faith to suit their perverse goals.