Why the Bollywood song and dance? Get real

I REFER to the letter, “Spread love, unity” by Brijlall Ramguthee last week.

Is he for real? Does he think Bajrangi Bhaijaan is going to solve any problems on the Indian subcontinent, for instance? Or anywhere else?

Can any movie, let alone a Bollywood movie (generally not rooted in reality) diminish or address the problems affecting the India-Pakistan relationship? It is true this film was not banned in Pakistan, as films with such themes usually are.

But in real life, Salman Khan, the lead actor, is facing prison for killing a homeless person while driving drunk. In a tweet recently, he decried the hanging of terrorist Yakub Memon, describing him as “innocent”.

Also this reel hero, who is no real-life hero, has been linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. An ideal person to “spread love and unity” is he not?

But the greater irony is that while many are in raptures about this feel-good escapist movie, the exchange of gunfire along the line of control between India and Pakistan has continued.

On July 29, the Daily Mail revealed that an Islamic State document originating in Pakistan, written in Urdu, showing that the Islamic State was secretly planning to provoke the end of the world by attacking India to try and entice US into all-out war.

On August 10, the BBC revealed a map of areas IS wants to take over by 2020 which included India, China, North Africa and parts of Europe. From the resulting Caliphate, they plan to take over the rest of the world. I can see Bollywood-style “love and unity” doing the trick.

There is another irony. On August 3, there was an article in the Times of India which read, “Indian girl stuck in Pakistan needs Bajrangi Bhaijaan”. While people were raving over a work of fiction, this was a real story of a deaf and mute girl stuck in Pakistan for 14 years.

Was there a Bajrangi Bhaijaan coming to her rescue? Not one in 14 years.

KAMINI PRAKASH

Riet River