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Poster of 1942 - A Love Story, a movie set in pre-independence India, where lovers are caught between supporters and protestors of British rule. |
Cinema is inseparable from the Indian consciousness. It is through cinema, in fact, that many Indians continue to imagine their past and their shared national identity. This identity, however, often remains divided by religious tensions.
Indiathe Victorious
In the movie Lagaan (Tax), the villagers of Champaner in India challenge the British to their own game, cricket. Their victory over the colonial rulers meant exemption from taxes, and signified a metaphorical – if not anachronistic - victory over imperial rule. The movie was met with a wave of patriotic enthusiasm from Indian audiences, and took the movie right into Oscar nominations.
Aamir Khan, who plays the lead role in Lagaan, is a popular Hindi-movie actor whose activism goes beyond on-screen heroism .
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| Also known as "King Khan," Shahrukh plays a Muslim coach that lead an Indian women's hockey team to victory in Chak De India (Go For It India) released on India's 60th Independence Day. |
Another Khan that rules the Indian silver-screen is Shahrukh Khan. A popular Hindi-movie icon, Khan has starred in many nationalist works, not least the movie Swades. Based on a true story about a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) returning to India, the movie at times jibes at the Indian exodus, as when a character calls the NRIs Non-Returning Indians. The movie has said to have inspired many NRIs to return to their native land.
The Not-So-Bright Picture
Not all desi or Indian movies have the feel-good factor, and many dare to look at religious divisions and political corruption, warts and all. Rang De Basanti (Paint It Saffron), another Aamir-starrer, deplores corruption in India, and raises the question of violent civic protest.
The country of Gandhi, pioneer of non-violent protest, has inspired many filmmakers. The life of Gandhi himself has, once again, been rendered on-screen by Bollywood in Gandhi My Father.
Yet, as Indian cinema itself has documented, the country is far from walking the challenging path of non-violence.
Gadar-Ek Prem Katha (Mutiny – A Love Story) is set in 1947, the year in which India gained independence from British domination and partitioned into predominantly Muslim Pakistan and the mostly Hindu India, sparking riots. When the movie was released, off-screen, too, riots emerged.
Another movie that sparked riots was Hey Ram (O Ram!), also set in the 1940s. In the movie, surrounded by rising Hindu-Muslim violence and Partition protests, Saket Ram himself turns violent and wants to murder Gandhi whom he believes to be responsible for the Indo-Pak Partition and the religious riots.
Kashmir is another issue that many movies have tackled critically. One example is director Mani Ratnam's Dil Se (From the Heart), in which a Kashmiri woman who is part of a resistance group has undertaken a mission as a suicide-bomber.
Fizais set much after independence, and depicts the trials of Indian Muslim families following the destruction of Babri Masjid that took place on December 5, 1992, sparking Hindu-Muslim riots.
Largely ruled by the Khans – Aamir, Shahrukh and even Salman Khan – the Bollywood industry can be counted on to reproduce a technicolor past and conveniently tag historical events with the eternal promise of a "love story." And as any Bollywood romance will bear witness, things are never easy.
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