Steven Spielberg while addressing students in 2018 focussed on a quote from poet Maya Angelou which he read in Alabama at the new museum and memorial on slavery, lynching, and mass incarceration. The quote was, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” This epitomized the feeling with which the gut-wrenching portrayal of the Jewish Holocaust was depicted in ‘Schindler’s List’. Movies on the holocaust and genocide do not offer a pleasant viewing. They turn on pages of history that are bound to cause excruciating pain and grief. However, movies on such strong subjects are very much required in order to depict realities and prepare people to not allow the repeat of such history. Very recently, Vivek Agnihotri put out dare of a movie in the form of ‘The Kashmir Files’. The movie honestly portrays the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits with all facts and sequences from real life incidences. The movie is considered a movement in itself and has resonated with the masses like never before. The outpouring of emotions for the plight of Kashmiri Pandits is palpable. The movie has given a voice to the suppressed community almost after 32 years of genocide and subsequent exodus. This is the power of cinema. It has the ability to mobilize masses on sensitive issues. This has however been a major issue with Bollywood which has till now not been able to bring forth real sensitive issues and has been acting as propaganda machinery of the leftist cabal promoting all the vices of the society.
Bollywood has for long been a content starved industry mostly promoting plagiarized content under the garb of ‘inspiration’ or ‘remake’. The name Bollywood is in itself borrowed from the name ‘Hollywood’. It has rather been the propaganda machinery of the leftist cabal for a long period of time. Bollywood ever since the 1970s has gone overdrive in pushing the left agendas of maligning the Sanatan faith, whitewashing the crimes committed by Abrahamic regimes in Bharat, promoting sentiment against the establishment, augmenting caste, religion, and class divide, glorifying the negative elements of the society, downplaying real heroes of the society, imposing non-Bharatiya culture, maligning Sanatan gurus and deities, promoting atheism among many others. The cinema and music industry sadly isn’t the beacon of social reforms which it could have been. Noted film writers, directors, lyricists, and actors have open allegiance with the left and the D Company and have been pushing the content which suits their masters and fills their pockets. They have been at the forefront of information warfare pushing down their narrative over the stretch of the last 70 years. In such a scenario, it is difficult for any genuine and sincere filmmaker to promote a movie like The Kashmir Files which is totally against the set narrative of the left cabal. Even before the release of The Kashmir Files there was an eerie silence in Bollywood. The otherwise outspoken actors and actresses who have an opinion on anything and everything under the sun, appeared to have consumed chloroform when it came to discussing the The Kashmir Files. The end result was that the movie received almost no support from Bollywood.
Bollywood has always promoted vices in society. Some very recent examples of this are the films Gehraiyaan and GangubaiKathiawadi. Gehraiyaan, a story on broken relationships, fragile family values, and betrayal, in no way represents the Bharatiya culture. It is also not representative of the youth of the country that it aims to address. Also, what was more appalling was the support Bollywood gave to the movie Gangubai Kathiawadi which is a movie about the glorification of a prostitute who was accused of several crimes. Though there is nothing wrong with promoting the abysmal plight of prostitutes in society but choosing to glorify a mafia is where the problem lies. Bollywood toeing the line of communists has shown severe religious bias where characters with Hindu names are inherently atheist while praising Muslim symbolisms like the character of ‘Vijay’ in Deewar who steps into a temple for the first time in his life only to save his dying mother while the same character carried ‘786’ billa with him in his pocket all the time. On the hand, a Muslim character of Iqbal Khan in Coolie wears his religion on his sleeve and has a badge of Billa no ‘786’. In both Coolie and Deewar the characters were saved by ‘786’ Billa at one point or the other. This was the blatant promotion of Muslim religious symbolism which was also replicated in other movies and is visible in several other examples. Such dichotomy of characterization was subtly promoted by Muslim writers and filmmakers like Javed Akhtar and Kader Khan. The songs of Bollywood were no different. Divisive terms like ‘Kafir’ that refer to non-believers as ‘others’ find references in many songs. Moreover, the Gurus, who are the beacon of Hindu Dharma are almost every time portrayed as thugs and evils of society. There are so many gurus/Baba thug portrayals that there is no need to even mention a movie for this. Brahmin is always a cunning priest, Marwadi a miserly shopkeeper, Sikh & Parsi a joker, South Indian, Gorkha a clown, Anglo-Indian is always a drunkard, any Marathi is always illiterate bai, Gujarati a heartless businessman but Christian always a noble padre and Muslim sincere generous maulvi according to Bollywood. Such subtle communalism is slowly propagated through the masses. The so-called liberals but committed leftists made sure to subjugate Bharatiya Samskriti and promote the glorification of one religion over the other under the garb of secularism. The glory of Hinduism fell victim to the left writers of Bollywood. Thus, when in a film like The Kashmir Files where Hindu Kashmiri Pandits are portrayed as victims of genocide, there is utter silence on the part of Bollywood as it goes against the set template. ‘Truth’ is being labeled as communalism. Such is the irony. But the same Bollywood Coterie visits Holocaust Museums in the West and showcase sympathy vocally. If hypocrisy has a synonym it has to be only Bollywood. The roaring success of The Kashmir Files has shaken them externally and internally very deep but it had to happen someday if not now.
There are many sore chapters in the history of Bharat. These chapters need to be brought to the forefront to stroke public discussion. Denial of history is no solution. Instead, it should be faced with courage to seek reconciliation. Not addressing issues have left Bharat be divided even after 75 years of independence. The famous quote of George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, holds true. It is important to debate and discuss all exoduses and genocides that have taken place in the name of religion in the country. The natives of the country have since 1000 years faced barbarism of epic proportions. All chapters need to be brought forth and discussed to prevent it from happening again. Revisiting history is never a conspiracy, it only opens doors for acceptance, debate, and discussions. The history of the Jewish holocaust is depicted on celluloid by Jewish filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski, and Stanley Kramer. There is a concerted effort to not allow an incident like the Jewish Holocaust to fade away from public memory. Seventeen European countries including Germany along with Israel have a law against Holocaust denial. It is high time for Bharat to address the issue of genocide and exodus in the same manner. Movies such as The Kashmir Files open a new chapter in Bharatiya Cinema. Such movies like in Hollywood and other movie industries across the world should be promoted and accepted. However, it is a shame that The Kashmir Files didn’t receive much support from Bollywood and instead was projected as a communal and propaganda film. The massive success of the film has however lifted the veil and is a tight slap on the hypocrisy of Bollywood which stands clearly exposed.
The writer is the Executive Chief Communication Officer, Vishwa Samvad Kendra, Mumbai. Views expressed are the writer’s personal.
There are many sore chapters in the history of Bharat. These chapters need to be brought to the forefront to stroke public discussion. Denial of history is no solution. Instead, it should be faced with courage to seek reconciliation. Not addressing issues has left Bharat divided even after 75 years of independence. The famous quote of George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, holds true. It is important to debate and discuss all exoduses and genocides that have taken place in the name of religion in the country. The natives of the country have since 1,000 years faced barbarism of epic proportions.