Does Kamal Haasan Deserve This?

As published in Tehelka

Twelve hours was enough for veteran actor Kamal Haasan to lose all hope (or whatever was left of it) in India’s political structures. Last night, the Madras High Court had lifted the ban by the Tamil Nadu government on Hassan’s film Vishwaroopam. However, in the morning, police halted screening across Chennai.

Frustrated and fed up, Haasan held a press conference in Chennai this morning where he said, “If there is no secular state in India, I would go overseas. I think Tamil Nadu wants me out.”

There was a depressing sense of déjà vu both for the citizens of this country and Kamal Haasan when he recalled M F Husain’s exit from the country after the painter’s freedom of experssion was trampled upon. Certain Hindu groups protested against Husain’s nude paintings of a certain Hindu goddess.

Hassan’s frustration was evident on his face when he said that he had pledged all his property on this film and had nothing more to lose, he would leave the country freely.

The 58-year-old Padma Shri awardee has starred in the largest number of films submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award, for Best Foreign Language Film.

Indian democracy started it’s descent towards intolerance when Prof Ashis Nandy’s comments were stifled under the garb of being divisive a few days ago, and reached the peak today when Haasan’s film is being used as a political tool.

What right does the government of Tamil Nadu have to stall a film when the Censor Board has given it a go ahead? What right do they have to stop the screening when the courts have given it a clean chit? What is the politics behind the fringe Muslim groups that have claimed that the movie is offensive? How long will artists have to suffer in the hands of politicians?

In 1989, the landmark Supreme Court judgment in the S. Rangarajan v/s P. Jagajivan Ram case held “freedom of expression cannot be suppressed on account of threat of demonstrations and processions and threat of violence”. The Tamil Nadu Government was not only being severely intolerant but also unconstitutional in deciding to impose a ban on the film.

Haasan said in the press conference that he thinks in Tamil, writes in Tamil and that his poems are in Tamil. If Kamal Hassan is forced to move out of the state in the quest for his uncompromising freedom of expression, the citizens of Tamil Nadu will face a loss they will never make up for.

Dabangg 2: Crass, Idiotic and Senseless

As published in Express Tribune

Reading that Dabangg 2 had made close to Rs150 crore in less than 14 days perked up my interest. After all, I wondered, what would it take for a film to become one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of all times?

With enormous curiosity and an absolutely open mind (I haven’t seen its prequel, Dabangg.) I marched into a near-packed theatre armed with a bucket of popcorn.

The first kidnapping sequence reminded me of senseless south Indian action films which are omnipresent on movie channels these days.

The mindless violence and a desperate attempt at comedy already began to irritate my sensitive taste. I concluded long before the film ended that Dabangg 2 was crass, idiotic and senseless. I couldn’t believe the amount of money AK Productions had made by putting out a product that is way lower than substandard.

But, what does this say about the audience?

No sooner had I made my conclusion than I realised that I was trying to put the wrong lid on the bottle. The film was just perfect in its place. I was the wrong audience for it.

The film is for Salman Khan fans; they want to see him beat up the bad men, romance the heroine and have emotional encounters with other character actors.

Dabangg 2 is Salman Khan and Salman Khan is Dabangg 2.

There is no room for a director, a screenplay writer, a story writer or a dialogue writer in the entire project. No one would care about whether Salman’s dialogue made sense, as long as it was said in a characteristic Salman type of way. No one would care about the twists and turns the story would take (there is no story line, to begin with!) as long as Salman was in it. And, no one would care about the authenticity or plausibility of the plot because Salman was the only reality!

Of course, not to forget the ever important presence of “item songs” so our Salman bhai can take a break from his fights.

Most songs that adorn this title are an insult to poetry and are the worst form of sleaze.

Dabangg 2 is a tight slap across the faces of those Bollywood film makers who claimed that Indian audiences (at large) are mature enough to accept and adore intelligent movies with a well-thought out story line and decent dialogues.

This film is a clear indication of what the audiences want. In an era where audiences rule and filmmakers want to give them what they want, most of the money in the industry will surely go into making such films in the future.

I might be a prude, bordering on being a snob. Well, then that is who I am.

People like me hope and pray silently that films that are made for us are given as much financial resources (while I feel my Rs180 was wasted on Dabangg 2.)

Here’s a call for attention to our minority community of avid film watchers – we need intelligent and entertaining films!