Padmavati - Bollywood of Cowards

When I was two-years-old, I lived alone in a rented ground floor room of a house as my parents were away at work during the day, till late evening. Most of the hours, I sat in front of a screen-window watching the world with my amazed little eyes. Instead of being scared, I revelled in the freedom. And mom has testified that I preferred staying home alone instead of crèche. I never cried and was calm as Buddha. May be not Buddha, but surely I was not a coward. 

Indian DNA isn't corrupted, upbringing is.

Gradually, over the years, the country of my birth has pushed me into becoming a full-bodied coward. And my life is a constant battle to keep a shred of soul, a sliver of dreams, a fragment of courage, a slice of honesty alive in me. Instead of Soul-Dreams-Courage-Honesty, this country is built & runs on Caste-Religion-Money and primarily Cowardice.

As a kid when I played cricket with poor (cleaner’s sons) kids, my father reminded me of my caste (thakur) & reprimanded me for mixing with bhangees (erstwhile untouchables). I got admission into a boarding school in Dehradun via money - not merit. I never got assaulted or marginalised because of my religion (Hinduism, the majority religion). And I was never castigated & burned at stake for my despicable cowardice when I didn’t have the humanity to help that injured pedestrian in a hit & run incident.

And this cowardice is stuck to my soul like chewing gum in hair. Each day, I quietly walk away when I see educated morons littering impetuously, rich/upper caste people treating the servants like filth, unabashedly eat over-priced sandwiches when millions are starving and now I’m sitting voiceless against the brain-dead jingoistic Karni Sena’s gross violations of human rights & unconstitutional violence under the guise of defending Rajput honour & a fictional queen.

Going to watch Padmavati was my pseudo-rebellion, but this letter is my authentic rebellion as I know violence, even if absolutely justified, is an abhorrent crime. So, when I, a self-pronounced coward, can risk physical assault by openly calling Karni Sena goons an insult to humanity and recommend them jauhar (self-immolation), why is Bollywood & its god-like superstars with bomb-proof gates and 100s of millions in the bank, are quiet as death.

A country whose big and mighty don’t have the balls to raise a voice against a bunch of directionless dimwits with lathis and gasoline canisters, and go mute when these felons slap its premier director and destroy his sets repeatedly, and don’t come out their palaces when Ms. Padukone receives death threads via beheading/acid splash, is no better than hell-like North Korea.

Even the right-wing, passive fascist BJP subtly gave protection to Bhansali, allowing him to complete the shoot amidst genuine fears of physical & financial dangers. Supreme Court, I&B, and CBFC all came to the aid of the filmmaker’s freedom of expression. Bhansali, including everyone involved with the film, were solid and showed steel balls to continue shooting despite being under constant mental duress. 

Before I go ahead & burn Bollywood bigwigs at stake, I will set one record straight. Now that I’ve watched the Padmavati (it will always be Padmavati for me - like it will always be Bombay, never Mumbai), I’m not a big fan of the film. Apart from the undeniable aesthetic brilliance of Bhansali and the performance of all artists involved with the creation of this magnum opus, the film isn’t anything Bhansali already hasn’t shown us in his earlier works. And the film, unlike what the Karni Sena schmucks believe, glorifies Rajputs and its denouement - the mass jauhar sequence - will make the feminists furious. Cut to the chase, the film is ordinary (by Bhansali’s celestial standards) & doesn’t deserve the 300 crores it has made within two weeks. It also doesn’t deserve to be banned from any place on Earth, including North Korea. 

But, the one year (between 27 January 2017 [when Bhansali & his sets were attacked in Rajasthan] and 26 January 2018) has become the metaphor of the bottomless cowardice of the superstars of Hindi film industry. 

Legends including (but definitely not limited to) Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Priyanka Chopra have stayed quieter than a cold night in Sweden at 3 am. Mr. Bachchan and Khan are ready to endorse unhealthy products for a few crores, Mr. Aamir Khan goes hot & cold depending on his mood, Mr. Johar has even invaded the radio now, and Ms. Chopra is directly associated with Mr. Bhansali, yet all of them pretended to be buried dead through those 365 days when Mr. Bhansali continued to create his film regardless of excruciating circumstances. It was a tailor-made situation for these five icons & thousands of other prominent figures in the film industry to show solidarity and nip Karni Sena in the bud. Had that happened, it would have set a chilling precedent for any future disgraceful violent protests by fringe elements. But, what did we witness - déjà fucking vu.

What baffles me are the levels of the cowardice of the Hindi film industry. What the hell are they scared of - a bunch of daily wage bozos with lathis? Ha! The truth is that the legends of the country of my birth don’t deserve an ounce of the adoration they enjoy every day. The privileged-&-entitled feminists-&-legends of this country only stand up for their (and their own’s) ‘rights’ & go into hiding when the time comes to wear pants and walk out of their air-conditioned homes to fulfil their ‘responsibilities.’

As a pessimistic optimist, I hope the next time another film goes through what Padmavati did, the industry luminaries will put on the pants and show up. I know they most likely won’t, but you never know, right. Even Bhansali dropped the ball when he moved his sets from Rajasthan, but then they burned his sets again in Kolhapur, and he said ‘Enough’ & stayed put & stuck it out. 

Another avatar of Karni Sena will sooner or later get deeply offended by a film they haven’t seen and try to cockblock its production and then release. It will throw up yet another platinum chance for ‘The Industry’ to, for once, pee on Karni Sena dolts instead of their own baby diapers.