religioism. its to be against a religion - i dont wanna use racist, anti-sementic etc
religioism. thats the word. word.
the movies i'm referring to is bollywood. the bastion of indian cinema.
consider this.
in the 70's there were so many roles who's religion wasnt just hindu. the charachters were everything from muslim, hindu, christian and sikh - all positive roles too. the main hero could easily be a muslim and the film would be a hit.
Coolie is one of the biggest proofs of this. the big man of the 70's amitabh bachan plays a muslim, with most of the charachters in the film also muslim. in the climatic end scene he gets shot and a flag bearing the kalima flies infront of him. he approaches the villain whilst saying the kalima showing that he's prepared to die whilst making sure the villain does too. watch the clip - no doubt a VERY powerful scene.
forward a few years to the 90's and all of a sudden muslim charachters almost disappear over-night. the charachters are all raj's, rohan's, dev's, vijay's and of course Rahul. look at the current superstar shah rukh khan's videography, only one of his roles has been a predominantly muslim, Hey Ram where he played Amjad Ali Khan. He's recently managed to squeeze in a few more sikh roles in Veer Zara and Shakti. only in 2006 did aamir khan play a muslim charachter in fanaa. salman khan and saif ali khan still havent played one muslim charachter. None of them have played a christian role. amitabh in the 70's already had 4-5 films as a non-hindu.
what happened in between the 70's and the 90's? the answer lies at the heart of indian politics.
The BJP, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
formed in the early 80's it quickly rose to prominence. in the aftermath of Ayodhya, muslims were public enemy no.1 in india. increasing right wing politics of a pro-hindu nature futher enforced this and isolated the muslim community. one of their main party ethics was The Construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya. it was the classic case of if your not with us your against us. and the population logistics simply fell into place. the BJP began exerting its influence on bollywood who was still shaken from Amitabhs poor political performance for a rival party.
on screen the kumars, khanna's and the khans, all played up hindu roles, positive hero stuff. whilst alot of the villains in general were over-blown mr big's who had names like john and tommy and a super-bitch called helen on the side of them who they always called daaarling. if they werent mr big then it was the grimey muslim thug who lived in the shanty and was called something bhai and HAD to wear a skull cap.
the fact so many indian film stars are joining the BJP rather than other parties highlights the role it plays in bollywood. the likes of vinod khanna and southern superstar rajnikanath all looking to enter or are in the party. vinod actually moving up in the party heirarchy.
the sikhs for a while had the worst. reduced to comical sidekicks for a long long time. even now some films will feature them as the inept friend to the hero. a fat greedy bumbling sikh guy with a pagh. only recently have there been a few positive sikh roles, mostly though with a military angle showin them as the brave soliders. sikhs have always been known for their military bravado. alot of the sikh roles were taken off due to 1984 and the fall out has been happening ever since.
but aside from that the religioism continues. back in the 70's the titles would appear on screen first the english spelling, then the hindi and finally urdu. the urdu text has all but disappeared now. the last film to have one was Om Shaanti Om made by farah khan but aside from that its virtually gone.
its gonna be some time - if positive sikh charachters are coming back then perhaps there is hope for the muslims ones though the christian roles will take some time yet due to the sectarian violence in india.
EDIT: just a lil addition to some more info i found from the net...
on screen the kumars, khanna's and the khans, all played up hindu roles, positive hero stuff. whilst alot of the villains in general were over-blown mr big's who had names like john and tommy and a super-bitch called helen on the side of them who they always called daaarling. if they werent mr big then it was the grimey muslim thug who lived in the shanty and was called something bhai and HAD to wear a skull cap.
the fact so many indian film stars are joining the BJP rather than other parties highlights the role it plays in bollywood. the likes of vinod khanna and southern superstar rajnikanath all looking to enter or are in the party. vinod actually moving up in the party heirarchy.
the sikhs for a while had the worst. reduced to comical sidekicks for a long long time. even now some films will feature them as the inept friend to the hero. a fat greedy bumbling sikh guy with a pagh. only recently have there been a few positive sikh roles, mostly though with a military angle showin them as the brave soliders. sikhs have always been known for their military bravado. alot of the sikh roles were taken off due to 1984 and the fall out has been happening ever since.
but aside from that the religioism continues. back in the 70's the titles would appear on screen first the english spelling, then the hindi and finally urdu. the urdu text has all but disappeared now. the last film to have one was Om Shaanti Om made by farah khan but aside from that its virtually gone.
its gonna be some time - if positive sikh charachters are coming back then perhaps there is hope for the muslims ones though the christian roles will take some time yet due to the sectarian violence in india.
EDIT: just a lil addition to some more info i found from the net...
He has played the role of Muslims in so many films and spoken the chaste Urdu dialogues penned by Salim Javed. But now he is speaking shuddha Hindi, which I have no reason to oppose or dislike. But it seems he chooses each word so that no Urdu word gets into his speech.
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3 comments:
Just a little tiny thing...
I'm sure Salman has played a few Muslim roles, as I remember mocking him as he prayed in one movie and said the kalima in another movie.
Not sure about Saif, but he's fit!
if you check their film profiles - every charachter has had a hindu name.i did think maybe tere naam had him as a muslim?
or maybe it was sanam bewafa? its an old film i'm not sure i think THAT may have been his only muslim role.
and i'm going to add one last comment which popped into my head.
when kargil happened major movies came out. lagaan's been made, Mangal Pandey happened.
but what about quite possibly the greatest military battle of all time?
Battle of Saragarhi
a battle so great it drew a standing ovation from the UK parliament. Queen victoria commented on it. this battle has a legacy.
if 300 has been made why not this?
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