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2月18日 Controversies GaloreThe recent trend in bollywood is “if you don’t create a controversy, you are a non entity”. Every other movie hitting the screen is plagued by controversy of one form or the other. Latest in the list is Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar- a mughal romance. The charges leveled against the magnum opus starring Hrithik and Aishwarya is ‘misrepresentation of history’. I have not watched the movie and hence I do not have any right to comment on the movie or the allegers. However the juicy nature of the allegations make it hard to keep mum. So let me chip in my view too into the cacophony of views out there.
This movie is centered around the relation between Jalaludiin Akbar- the mughal emperor and Rani Jodhaa Bhai- a Rajput princess. It is an undisputed fact that Akbar did have a Hindu wife. She may not have been called Jodhaa. The film and the maker acknowledges that. However, there are references of the queen having been referred to as Jodha Bhai posthumously. So is the controversy all about a name? what is in a name?
The marketing for this movie was a first of it’s kind in bollywood in my view. The focus was on the romance rather than the grandeur of the sets and the big names starring in it. It was not marketed as Aishwarya Rai Bacchan’s movie or Hrithik’s movie but as a Mughal love story. Very rarely, do you get to see the marketing campaigns looking beyond the glitz and glamour into the core- A marriage of alliance or convenience to avoid a war turning into a romance that transcends time. Just for that one reason, the movie deserves a standing ovation. Set aside the views of pundits of history; set aside the reasoning that the movie is fiction, a work of art allowing the artist his form of expression; set aside Rani Padmini Devi’s (descendent of princess Jodhaa) comment on the authentic treatment given to Rajput history in the movie; set aside every single thread of reasoning and logic; Can we not just enjoy it as a movie should be? Just sit back with a pop corn and share the joy and pain of the tinsel town heros. Have we turned into a discerning audience who are no longer ready to take what is dished out to them without questioning? I doubt that. The very same junta lapped up the bizarre servings of OSO, but questioned the intention of Deepa Mehta’s Water. They could not digest the ideas and ideologies in Fire but did not have any issues believing that Sharukh Khan could re-incarnate to fight the evil. They set fire and blasted bombs in a theater screening Jo Bhole So Nihal. They destroyed the sets of Water because it portrayed India and Hinduism in a bad light. All this makes me wonder what would have happened to Vatsyayana and his Kamasutra if it were to be created in today’s India? It would not have seen the light of the day for many reasons. Censor board would have edited out most of the “offending “ parts. It would then brand him a pervert (which I think he was anyways)Some one would find a line or word that offends some caste, creed or sex. India would have lost it’s most famous contribution to the world of carnal matters. That would have been a disaster. Let us all rest in peace in a disaster averted. Let us sit back and enjoy the movies rather than complain about them. 引用通告此日志的引用通告 URL 是： http://chalkcheeseandmore.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3500510FEC3E30D1!108.trak 引用此项的网络日志
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