SAFFRON ON THE BIG SCREEN
The large number of governmentfriendly films releasing ahead of the upcoming general elections tells a tale of politics and cinema
Afew days before the release of Swatantra Veer Savarkar on March 22, actordirector Randeep Hooda courted controversy, stating, “If [activist and politician Vinayak Damodar] Savarkar had his way, our country would have become independent 35 years earlier. It was because of Mahatma Gandhi that we got freedom later.”
The statement didn’t go uncontested. Gandhi’s greatgrandson Tushar Gandhi said: “It is a classic case of fictionalisation of history.” Noted historian Aditya Mukherjee chips in, “Savarkar is the fountainhead of Hindutva ideology. A few years ago, they would not have dared to posit him against the Mahatma. A film like Savarkar, and Hooda’s statement, is an attempt to nibble at the stature of the Mahatma. By the way, three decades before Independence, Mahatma Gandhi was not quite on the scene [Champaran Satyagraha was his first mass movement in 1917] and Savarkar was in jail.”
Hooda tried to course correct soon after, stating how he had come to respect Gandhi more after the film. But it couldn’t save Swatantra Veer Savarkar. It opened to 12% footfall in Delhi, prompting many to joke that Savarkar drew more from the British through his pension.
‘The maths isn’t working’
But Hooda’s film was never expected to be strong on facts or provide a comprehensive picture of the man whose legacy — as one of the pioneers of the Hindutva ideology — is much contested. It is part of an avalanche of
Hindi cinema facilitating the spread of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutvadriven politics. Historicals, biopics and political dramas are all skewed to seamlessly forward a communal political narrative.
A cursory look at the names of some of the films either released in the last few years or waiting in the wings and one understands they target the Left liberals, the Muslims, or the Congress, the three favoured recipients of animosity of Hindutva proponents.
The films, however, mostly aren’t faring well. For every successful The Kashmir Files (2022), there are half a dozen Bastar: The Naxal Story (2024). Noted documentary filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, whose featurelength film Final Solution was based on the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, says, “The maths isn’t working out. Those who thought their movies will mint money if even 20% of the 22 crore BJP voters buy tickets are disappointed.”
Main Atal Hoon, a biopic on the life of former prime minister and BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, with popular actor Pankaj Tripathi in the lead, released to a lukewarm response this January. A month later, Yami Gautam’s Article 370, based on the abrogation of Article 370 (which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir) in 2019 by the Modi government fared better, collecting ₹75 crore in the first month of its release. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself gave the film a fillip, stating at a rally in Jammu, “[The
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”. ntary filmmaker Sharma ngh Parivar has always seen as the last of the secular fort that they think they each,” he says. “I hear whispers of funding for culturally and politically ‘appropriate’ projects by Sanghi sympathisers, both desi and NRI. Rewriting history is a favourite Sanghi pastime.” Moreover, films like The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story were strongly promoted by the Hindutva regime, and movie tickets were declared taxfree in BJPgoverned States.
A closer look at those involved with the production and promotion of many of these films tells a tale of politics and cinema. Arun Govil, who starred in Article 370, is now contesting from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket. Kangana Ranaut, who released the trailer of Razakar: The Silent Genocide of Hyderabad, is contesting from Mandi on a BJP ticket.
As the general election approaches, Bollywood has become a critical vehicle for upholding antiMuslim tropes in the country. “Hindi film producers and production companies seem to think that the surge in political support for Hindutva rightwing will also translate into great numbers of cadres and supporters flocking to the theatres,” says Sharma. “That’s why we are seeing a flood of films that want to cash in on jingoism, pseudonationalism, fauxhistory, revisionist narratives and such.”
Now lined up for release before the political slugfest are films such as JNU, Main Deendayal Hoon (a biopic on the leader of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP) and Dr. Hedgewar (biopic of the founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), each likely to take forward a particular political narrative. In fact, Dr. Hedgewar’s trailer focuses on Muslims as the ‘other’ — much like the multilingual Razakar. Also slated for release is The Sabarmati Report, based on the Godhra tragedy of 2002.
It seems the show, however vituperative and jingoistic, will go on.
Hindi film producers and production companies seem to think that the surge in political support for Hindutva rightwing will also translate into great numbers of cadres and supporters flocking to the theatres. That’s why we are seeing a flood of films that want to cash in on jingoism, pseudonationalism, fauxhistory, revisionist narratives and such like
RAKESH SHARMA