Communal Stereotyping in Bollywood Movies

Pakistan Bashing Movies ( PBM`s ) is something very old now - PBM`s was first started with the movie called ` Border ` and then there was this chain of movies - formula was make movies with patriotic themes in order to get sucess like Border - one or two did good but rest failed. Sunny Deol leads the pack in PBM`s because he doesn`t have what it takes to make a movie hit like Sharuk or Khan pact which don`t make or take part in PBM`s .... but things changed after peace talks ... but its alright ..again movies reflects culture and politics - this will happen until world ends.. peace

It was a pity that movies like Fiza and Mission Kashmir failed which were much better than Gadar in all tye deprtments.This cashing of anti Pakistan propaganda started actually with Krantiveer in which Nana Patekar was the hero.Politicians,fundamentalists and a section of press made Pakistan a villain prototype and fuelled national chawnism which was fully exploited by producers of Bollywood whose(barring a handful like Shyam Benegal) only religeon is to make money.
It is pathetic to see how a handful of people in every religeon decides what is derogatory to the religeous sentiments of the masses.

Communal stereotyping or `labeling` happens on every Indian street. Imagine life without sardarji,gujju, bengali, bihari, tamilian jokes :))

Que: Name of the Japanese businessman in Calcutta desperately wanting to pee?

Ans: Thakiyeno Muteyashi!!

Cheers

labyrinth1,
Hindi movies with the exception of a few are plain shit. It does not require any special talent to do a masala movie than a patriotic one. So, Sunny is no way inferior to Shahrukh. Movies with anti-Pak theme were there long before `border`, its just that they did not refer pakistan as such but rather as `dushman`, although the audience knew what they meant.

Don`t know why you feel so bad about the patriotic movies. I am pretty sure that there are anti-India movies made in Pakistan. So it evens out, no problemo.

I hope that the `jo bole so nihal` puts an end to the punjab-da-puttar type films. Sikhs characters don`t have to be jingoistic or macho.

But I am also disturbed by the increasing trend towards opposing films on political grounds. Almost every film would flout political-correctness on one count or another, most of them probably have an element of misogynism in them.

``Garam Hava’, a parallel cinema film highlighted the struggle of Muslim youth in the turbulent times of 70’s and won critical acclaim.``

It was a post partition based movie.

Movies like Border, though ultra-nationalists are based on real life stories. though there is filmi masala too. Similarly can we say that `Haqeeqat`` is a anti-chinese movie? Cinema (hollywood or bollywood) always distorts history to some extent and can be used as a propaganda tool.
With regard to pakis crying foul, here is some info about Lollywoods response:

``Still showing in cinema halls after its release in December 2000, Terey Piyar Mein is about an Indian Sikh girl who falls in love with a Pakistani boy during a visit to Sikh holy shrines in Pakistan. Her Pakistani lover follows her to India where he is caught by an Indian army officer, who is also in love with the Sikh girl. The film ends with Kashmiri militants helping the Pakistani boy escape jail and cross the border into Pakistan with the Sikh girl. In keeping with the Pakistan government`s allegations against Indian security personnel in Kashmir, the film shows the Indian army officer torturing the Pakistani man in jail.

Terey Piyar Mein is not the first effort of famed producer Shahzad Gul to cash in on the anti-India sentiment in Pakistan. A year ago he produced the highly successful Ghar Kab Aao Gey (When Will You Return Home?) that dealt with subversive activities, allegedly carried out by Indian intelligence agencies in Pakistan. ``The success of the movie has made me work on such themes as I realized how a majority in this country thinks,`` Gul said in a press interview.

What Gul did not mention was the help he got from the Pakistani Army`s Inter Services Press Relations department in filming many of the scenes. Terey Piyar Mein was also made with the technical support of the military`s public relations department. The military`s press relations wing has also given financial and technical help to state-run Pakistan Television in the filming of the popular drama series Angaar Wadi, (The Valley of Flames), which deals with the operations of the Indian security forces in Kashmir. ``

rahul,

``garam hava`` was made in the early 70`s, but as stuka said, the timeline of the movie is almost immediately after partition. sadly, it was also balraj sahni`s last film.

Labyrinth,

``Sunny Deol leads the pack in PBM`s because he doesn`t have what it takes to make a movie hit like Sharuk or Khan pact``. You are too hard on Sunny Paaji. As Karan Johar aptly put it, ``the only man amongst boys in Bollywood``. His forte is action, check out his trilogy with Santoshi - ``Ghayal``, ``Damini`` and ``Ghatak``. The `dhai kilo ka haath` he delivered in his cameo in Damini is one of the all-time hit Bollwood dialogues.

Unfortunately, it is tradition of Indian filmdom to punish artists for doing good movies. Take SRK for instance. When he does run of the mill song-and-dance routines, movies click, when he tries something different, they flop. Check out Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na and Swades to understand what I mean. Aamir did a fantastic job in Akele Hum Akele Tum, movie bombed. He did a mediocre Raja Hindustani, it was a runaway success.

Drlokraj,

``Politicians,fundamentalists and a section of press made Pakistan a villain prototype and fuelled national chawnism``

Generally, I`m all for bashing politicians, but here I disagree. One doesn`t need to project Pakistan as a villain in Indian context or viceversa - it is as obvious as it gets. 3-/2 wars, uncountable border skirmishes, regular show of hostility at Wagah, Aurangzeb, Shivaji, Jinnah, Gandhi, Arjun, Khalid, it is an endless list. In my opinion, filmmakers were slow to cash on this perpetual enmity.

Vagabond,

I agree. There is no point in gettng unduly concerned about stereotyping, it is here to stay.

Vivek,

Bollywood movies may be shitty, but we identify more with them. Last year Kunal Kohli released a rip-off of `When Harry Met Sally`, `Hum Tum`. Having watched the original, I didn`t think much of the copy, but all my friends and family were oohing and aahing over how well made the movie was, Rani even managed the filmfare for that.

DMji,

Nobody is ready to give credit to Sunny Paaji for putting Sikhs on the map of Bollywood. Before this, would anyone have dared to cast a turbaned Sikh as the lead protagonist? It is true that the roles are cliched, but a good start nevertheless.

The trend of opposing things under the pretext of `hurts the religious sentiment` has moved to TV commercials too. In the ad of one of the million products which Mr. Bacchan has endorsed, he plays a Padre and wears a slightly dirty cassock. A kid tells him to use a detergent, and lo and behold, the garment is sparkling white. Christian groups have objected to the ad saying that it shows Christianity in a bad light coz the robe is dirty!

Stuka and Ana,

Sorry for the slip! Appreciate u guys pitching in.

Netizen,

What is the language used in Pakistani movies - Urdu or Punjabi? We mostly watch movies on pirated CDs. I believe, most of them are made in Gulf or Pakistan. They always have an ad of some Chintoo candy and promos of Pakistani movies. A particularly hilarious one had a bearded guy in shalwar kameez firing in the air like there was no tomorrow and some scantily clad bimbo dancing to the tune of `dile de tu Punjabi, nach Punjabi, nach` or some such :-)

rahulmal,
Absolutely, everybody has the right to see what they want. I agree our films are the way they are because our audience likes it that way. Its a fact that Ingmar Bergman wouldn`t have survived Indian audience.

From what I have read, the authorities are saying it is the islamic terrorists that are responsible for the blasts, trying to blame the sikhs for it. No sikh militant group (if there are any around) has claimed responsibility.
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/05/24/afx2049902.html

Also, the christian groups are not complaining about the Bachchan ad because his robe is dirty, but because the ad uses the line ``...And then there was light``, which is from the bible. Christian groups are complaining that sacred text from the bible should not be used for commercial purposes.

Re: # 11

I guess it is urdu as it will have a larger audience in and outside pak. The title like Terey Piyar Mein, Ghar Kab Aao Gey, Angaar Wadi are in hindustani not punjabi. Theres one more Mussalman. There was a punjabi hit movie from 40, Yaamla Jat.

Mailviya Bhai,
What is your point?

We all know that these movies are meant to capitalize on the majority population`s sense of humor. Sikh`s image is always distorted delibrately to have Fun. Jutt or No-Jutt, practising Sikhs don`t have any caste system. Rest are fair weather, cultural Sikhs with no idea of what this is about.

Nobody makes movies showing Muslims negatively because they know that there will be riots and also Bollywood has considerable Muslim population. None of the Censor Board is a practicing Sikh. It sounds so ridiculous when Ponty Chadda and Rawail say that they are also Sikhs.

As far as Sikh`s stand is concerned on this; all the major Sikh institutions have rightfuly condemned these blasts. There is no room for Violence to kill inncocents in Sikhism.
Immediately after the blast SGPC, DSGPC and Manmohan Singh(Sikh) went to the Hospitals unlike the Muslims after 9-11, when it took them 4-6 weeks to even make a statement.

Maybe, Bollywood can redeem itself by making at least one movie showing a Sikh character in positive light, I am not talking religously but socially.

Thanks for listening.

Delhiwala,

``practising Sikhs don`t have any caste system`` :-)

I`ll answer your post later...gtg now