BOLLYWOOD SAYS GOODBYE TO RUNNING AROUND TREES

MAHENDRA VED

Bollywood says goodbye to running around trees

2010/03/01

“MY name is Khan and I am not a terrorist.”At once persuasive and defiant, this resounding statement in Bollywood’s latest blockbuster is an appeal to the world for rational thinking and compassion. It comes at a difficult time when neither is easily forthcoming in a world where 9/11 is not just a date but also a seemingly impregnable wall, both psychological and physical.

I will not narrate the story, as many Malaysians will have seen the movie. To continue from my last piece, however, I must add that the best thing that has happened to My Name is Khan is the people of Mumbai, and other Indian cities, calling the Shiv Sena bluff and thronging the theatres.

Released in 120 theatres across the United States, the film grossed US$1.86 million (RM8 million) in the first weekend and set a new record in Canada. Shah Rukh Khan received a rapturous welcome at the Berlin International film Festival.

“They don’t call him King of Bollywood for nothing!” said Bild, the biggest German newspaper. “Shah Rukh is the most famous man in the world with three billion fans — that’s more than for George Clooney, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt combined.”

I saw the film a day after its release. The Delhi audience reaction was one of some applause and moist eyes at the end. It was a great viewing experience, although many thought it was rather heavy on the head and the heart.

A movie that is heavy on head and heart from a Bollywood known for escapist entertainment?

MNIK, as it has come to be known, redefines Bollywood fare, if redefinition is needed after a string of good movies with universal appeal. The era of running around the tree is gone.

Emulating Khan’s lines, the Times of India speaks of a whole new mantra for the Indian movie industry which might go something like: “My name is Bollywood and I’m not just an entertainer. I have a whole lot to say and I’ll say it in style.”

It notes MNIK director Karan Johar’s eye for detail, which not only sweeps across contemporary history, but also creates startling vignettes with scenes that question, challenge, debate and debunk established myths. You have a cinema that inspires, moves, motivates and forces you to think.

Take the terrorism issue. This is the third movie in less than two years to work on post-9/11 America, to effectively put across the problem of racial profiling, detention and torture by a paranoid American security apparatus, all targeted at Muslims.

New York and Kurbaan did it earlier. Each portrayed the human drama unleashed by the events of 2001, for which the end is nowhere in sight.

I cannot hide my elation that in all three, the turning point comes with the proactive roles played by Indian American journalists.

With three meaningful movies, Bollywood can take legitimate credit for putting across the Muslim angst to the whole world.

Add to that Khuda Ke Liye, made in Pakistan under more daunting conditions, and a larger South Asian picture emerges.

Granting that political parties in India do have their agendas, Shah Rukh declares: “As a people, we are secular.” He says: “A secular nation like India, being neither the perpetrator of terrorism, nor a military interventionist, is eminently qualified to spread the message of love and compassion in this terrorism-struck world. Being a victim of terrorism makes India’s task effective and its message credible.”

MNIK’s denouement comes in the form of a meeting between Khan and a character playing Barack Obama, who accepts that Khan is not a terrorist and apologises to him and his wife for the loss of their son.

Khan sets out on his memorable journey to meet George W. Bush. Given Bush’s worldwide unpopularity, such a meeting would not have sent the desired message. So Johar keeps Khan going in circles and has him recovering from an attack by Muslim extremists, till the American people elect the “first African president”, who has no problem receiving, without responding directly, Khan’s very oriental adaab (greeting) with salaam-aleikum. Very clever.

If Shah Rukh places Indian society on a pedestal, along with Johar and the makers of New York and Kurbaan, all shot largely in the US, he also pays rich tribute to the American society that permits criticism.

Yet, MNIK shows a beacon to America. Note Khan’s warm ties with the black family of remote Wilhemina in Georgia. American trade publication Hollywood Reporter aptly says: “This is a movie not built for subtlety, but it does tackle a subject American movies have mostly avoided — that of racial profiling and the plight of Muslim-Americans.”

Some Western critics, among them the New York Times, have dismissed MNIK as “a fairy tale”. They ignore that Khan, afflicted by Asperger’s sSyndrome, does view the issue in simplistic terms. He thinks that his unfair questioning by the American authorities can only be remedied by talking to the president.

Reuters, calling the movie naïve for trying to divide the world into good and bad, attacks its basic concept. One may well ask why are the US and Europe, desperate to quit Afghanistan, looking for “good” and “bad” Taliban?

And if there are “good” Taliban, why has millions been set aside to purchase them? However, let me not dilute MNIK’s message. It moves you at every point. It works at different, complex levels, tells a few home truths, but is not preachy. What’s more, it entertains. There are several moments of laughter.

Khan quotes from the Quran on some occasions to justify his arguments, and even clashes with those who want to avenge the ill treatment meted out to Muslims by Christians and Jews in America and Europe. Yes, India and Hindus, too, figure on their hate list.

That such people exist is no secret. They are not going to be happy with Shah Rukh and his character. And they are not going to vanish. The movie promotes reconciliation. Is anyone listening?

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20100301001933/Article/