Film may get India thinking

I WAS dragged to the cinema to watch Shah Rukh Khan’s movie, Jawan.

By the way, I stopped watching modern Indian films about a decade ago as I have been disappointed with the discriminatory, neo-apartheid approach of the Indian government against minorities like Christians, Muslims, Dalits and Sikhs.

The three-hour movie broke all previous records in India as far as gross cash takings are concerned. People, of all religious denominations, flocked to the cinema like in the heydays.

But in the rest of the world, patronage dropped due to various reasons. There is the advent of home streaming, inflated admission prices, crime and insecurities about stepping out of the home unnecessarily.

In the movie, Shah Rukh Khan’s character highlighted areas of gross government failures in public health and the suicide of farmers struggling to repay bank loans.

He also advised the common man to be careful about whom he gave his vote to, and not to use language, race or religion as the main criterion for their choice of leaders.

This was not just a veiled take on the government, which is boastfully creating a few millionaires at the expense of keeping the rest of the millions perpetually downtrodden.

Since Narendra Modi became the prime minister of India and continued pursuing the right-wing policy of religious Hindutva separatism, this was probably the first time that people began to speak their minds.

I was not particularly impressed with the plot and storyline of the movie, but if it rocks the present boat ever so slightly to get the masses to think clearly about which direction their country is heading, then the actor’s offering may have served a purpose far more valuable than any financial profit.

Perhaps a return to true democracy, eventually.

EBRAHIM ESSA

Musgrave