“Them” and “Us” from Agra to Mangalore

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Anger produces great art – creative anger against injustices and cruelties. Picasso’s “Guernica” was powerful because the artist was deeply moved by the atrocities of Spanish fascism. Vijay Tendulkar became the most forceful playwright of our time because he dared to attack the petty chauvinisms of the Shiv Sena and even that holiest of holy cows, the Poona Brahmin. Some of his plays were violently stopped, but Tendulkar was unstoppable.

Our film-makers have consistently shown courage in attacking the hypocrisies we take for granted. Himansurai tackled untouchability (in “Acchut Kanya”) and K. Subramaniam exposed the illtreatment of widows (“Balayogini”) as early as 1936.

Bollywood was quick to respond to terrorism. “Mumbai Meri Jaan” and “A Wednesday” examined the issues frankly and sensitively. “Shaurya” went further and anticipated the rise of communalism in the armed forces. What was a terrifying possibility on the screen became a terrifying reality on the ground when a colonel was implicated in “Hindu terrorism”.

Communalism is India’s most dangerous and most intractable problem. Tragically it has only been getting more dangerous over the years. Thought-provoking novels and heart-rending movies seem ineffective before vote-bank politics that feed communalism. From M. S. Sathyu’s “Garam Hava” in 1975 to Girish Kasaravalli’s “Gulabi Talkies” in 2008 we seem to have made little progress as a nation. In between, we fared much worse.

Sathyu’s story was set against Partition and the frenzied migration of Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus to India. An old Muslim shoemaker in Agra saw no reason to leave his beloved home in Agra and all the wonderful neighbours and customers he had known for a lifetime. His harrowing experiences and cruel isolation, sensitively sketched by Sathyu and Balraj Sahni, made the film a modern classic.

In historical terms the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat in 2002 was the most traumatic communal explosion since Partition. Rahul Dholakia’s “Parzania” depicted that great tragedy effectively – so effectively that it was never allowed to be shown in Gujarat despite the censor board clearing it. Now Nandita Das has tackled the same theme with great compassion in her “Firaaq”.

Kasaravalli’s latest creation shows that, as a country, we are where we were in 1975.Outwardly his story is about the arrival of television and how this new wonder complicated and eventually changed the lives of people in a small fishing village. But through it unfolds a more important and more disturbing story: how easily Hindu-Muslim problems can erupt.

People in the fishing village lived in great harmony, never noticing who belonged to what religion. Then a Hindu girl runs away to chase the dreams brought to her mind by TV serials. Caught in underhand business dealings, a Muslim fish trader also disappears. Gossipers link the two and suddenly the mindsets of the villagers change. Now it is “them” and “us” all the way. Gulabi carries on as before, like Balraj Sahni’s Muslim in Garam Hava. But she is isolated, harassed and openly abducted.

Kasaravalli presents the story with a naturalness that makes the film extraordinarily powerful. We see how harmless gossiping can incite communal feelings, how quickly hatreds can develop. It is frightening. Ironically this movie has been released just when unprecedented communal intolerance is erupting in Mangalore and its surroundings. Unintentionally perhaps, “Gulabi Talkies” has become a timely warning. What a pity that timely warnings are never heeded by the bigoted.

The power of hatred

Kasab - Deadly Fidayeen caught in Mumbai 26/11


In our relentless television yuga, no explanation is needed for a putta virama. The best thing about a “short break” is that, while it is never short, it is always a break; it ends and news follows as surely as defection follows election in Karnataka.

During the silence of this particular virama, however, our world changed. Terrorism took hold of our lives. It’s a wholesale, all-embracing kind of terrorism that affects even simple things like going to the station to catch train or enjoying tindi in a favourite restaurant. This is a paradigm shift, a new epoch. From now on the life-changing adjustments required to cope with terrorism will be the substance of our lives. We will be living as the Palestinians, the Afghans and the Pakistanis have been living for decades – in a culture of terror.

Of course we have some things the others do not have. A functioning democracy, a thriving economy, some good universities, a free press, arts, cinema, music, theatre. These may make us feel that we are better off than our neighbours. But even these assets will now be under the shadow of instant unpredictabilities of a bloody kind.

Not all the armies and technologies of the world can eliminate this shadow. This is because the prime motivation that drives terrorism is hatred, the most powerful emotion known to man, and an emotion unknown to other animals. Jews, the first people in history to employ political terrorism (when their Zealot Movement created violent insurrection against the Romans in AD 66) are still hate-driven against the Arabs; see the bloodthirstiness of their ongoing air attacks in Gaza. The Arabs of course return the compliment.

The intensity of Jewish hatred towards Arabs has only two parallels in our time – the Al Quaida’s hatred of America, and Pakistani army elements’ hatred of India. In the madrassas run by them in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the main teaching imparted to young boys is how to hate. There is no stopping the indoctrinated fanatics who come out of such brainwashing schools.

Pakistan’s former ISI chief, Hamid Gul, was recently on TV. This is a man on America’s list of global terrorists. Yet his words and facial expressions reflected contempt for his critics and an arrogant self-confidence. A highly skilled professional, his mind is not open to discussion. It feeds on hatred.

Let’s remember too that Pakistan has reliable friends, like China. Our Prime Minister’s trusted friend, America, made some friendly noises initially, but has changed positions subsequently. Germany came forward with help to upgrade India’s national security apparatus. The next day’s news was that Germany was selling submarines to Pakistan.

Others look after their interests. We can look after our interests only if
(a) we are a united people,
(b) we have foolproof systems and
(c) our leaders are committed to national interests and nothing else.

Examine these factors honestly and what do we find? The New York terror attack united Americans in an exemplary way. But we are still fighting over Muslim terror and Hindu terror, over caste and language and rivers. In 60 years we have become more divided as a people. Our systems are full of holes because corruption corrodes all decisions. We have learned nothing from Bofors. As for our leadership, they are unforgivably self-centred. Who kept Shivraj Patil in the Home Minister’s chair until he became a national disgrace? Who is still keeping national security chairs warm for incompetence? How long will small, greedy minds hold back India from its destiny of greatness?