Muslims and the movies

Just consider these two little-known or practically unknown facts.

One, there would have been no Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, if its director Aditya Chopra had stuck to his earlier resolve -- of making his debut with a story about a young couple who meet in the midst of communal riots.

The couple is unaware of each other’s faith.Later, their families prove to be more incendiary and unreasonable than the mob of rioters they escaped from during the 1993-’94 riots of Mumbai.

Second, there would have been no Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, in the way it finally emerged on the screen, if Karan Johar had stuck to his earlier resolve of making the character of Kajol a Muslim girl from the Chandni Chowk mohalla of purani Dilli.

It’s a downmarket Muslim girl that the character essayed by Amitabh Bachchan was scheduled to disapprove of and turn away from the folds of his Brahminical family.

Evidently, both Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar lost nerve before the films commenced shooting. Chopra discarded his original script completely presumably because he didn’t want to gamble at the box office, while Johar merely incorporated some severely pancaked cosmetic changes, converting Kajol from a Salma into yet another have-not stereotype.

The Chandni Chowk girl stayed on in the plot but she became the daughter of a pundit halwai, while for that secular element, a neighbourhood friend enacted by TV actress Simone Singh was foisted into the screenplay.

Now the question is: Can the Mumbai-ishtyle film makers really be blamed for staying away from the Muslims. It would seem if the main characters – be it the hero or the heroine are Muslim – then contentious issues have to be grappled with. And how many of the now generation’s film makers even know about the catclysmic details of the country’s Partition or are interested in doing something constructive through the medium of cinema? Entertainment, it is presumed, just dpesn’t gel with purposeful stories. Certainly don’t expect a Garm Hawa today, which lingers in the heart and mind, as one of the very few films that actually did justice to representing Muslims in a realistic light.

Okay, it may be argued that commercial…oops mainstream cinema…isn’t meant to be realisitic, serious or relevant to the conditions around us. Still, even through the genre of fantasy romances and action capers in the past, several issues have been tackled in a gloriously palatable way by the so-called commercial producers of Mumbai…or should that be Bombay? Like it or not the ghosts of Raj Kapoor, V.Shantaram, Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt will continue to haunt generations of cinema aficionados to come.

These and other random thoughts, in fact, arise ironically enough on the tenth “anniversary” of the Babri Masjid demolition. Has any film maker had the nerve to talk about that in some detail and more to the point, would such frankspeak be permitted by the ever-watchful censor board eager to muzzle any kind of strong political comment?

In such a scenario, the very concept of a Muslim hero or heroine, is as absurdly as asking for the movies to give up on songs and prances. Custom has made it a must for the hero to be a Rahul or a Rohit and the heroine to be a Sapna or Suman. Indeed, it only the rare issue-oriented film that has in recent years featured central Muslim protagonists like the beleaguered couple, Manisha Koirala and Arvind Swamy, in Mani Ratnam’s Bombay. Although Ratnam’s film was vital in at least foraying into an area where cameras fear to tread, the film was marked by too many balancing acts, almost as if Ratnam was scared on alienating either section of his audience.

Interestingly, the Muslim audience is considered to be the most fervent and passionate filmgoers. Lose them and you lost out a major slice of the ticket vote bank. It’s only because of this anxiety to please this section of the audience that once films insisted on adding a sympathetic Chacha Rahim sort of character or a supporting actor who sacrifices his life for his Hindu friend at the end.

In addition, there was the rich genre of Muslim socials – Mere Mehboob and Mere Huzoor – featuring chocolate heroes in sherwanis and marzipan heroines in ghararas and burqas. For social commentary of a kind, Kamal Amrohi opened up the life of a reluctant courtesan in Pakeezah which admittedly was effectively poignant, with its evocation of an era of poetic romance and gilded cages.

They don’t make them like Pakeezah anymore. But then that’s stating the obvious, isn’t it? Especially when every filmgoer is aware that in the last ten years, cinema has deteriorated drastically. Although much is made of our technical advancement, any comparison of the average Hindi film with other Asian cinema – like that of Hong Kong or Taiwan – would show us up in a shoddy light.

There is something downright crude and patchy in the representation of Muslims in the movies today. For instance, there was neither head nor tale to the Salman Khan caper “Tumko Na Bhool Payenge”, in which the hero, a Muslim goes amnesiac, is adopted by a Hindu family, retrieves his memory and fetches up at the Haji Ali Masjid. If any point was being conveyed it was entirely lost on the audience which nixed the film at the turnstiles. Sohail Khan’s “Maine Dil Tujhko Diya” showcased Sanjay Dutt as a villainous Muslim don with a heart of gold; Dutt repeated the act as “Iqbal Danger” in the recently released “Annarth.”

Underworld has become the hang-out of Muslims.Witness “Sarfarosh”, an otherwise sensible film. The bad guy, Naseeruddin Shah, was a ghazal singer from Pakistan. As if to redress the balance, a cop played by Mukesh Rishi, was shown as a nationalist Muslim being victimised by his superiors and the world at large. It almost seemed as if Aamir Khan was playing an earnest good guy Hindu cop (like say Nick Nolte) while Mukesh Rishi was the black underdog cop (a la Eddie Murphy or Danny Glover).

Curiously or maybe understandably Ram Gopal Varma didn’t want to alienate the Muslim ticket vote back. Although his main protagonists in Company were clearly modelled on Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan, the characters played by Ajay Devgan and Vivek Oberoi weren’t given Islamic trappings or names. Clever, very clever.

One doesn’t wish to bring up one’s own effort in the representation of Muslims in cinema. All one can say is that one tried to reach authentic portrayals of Muslim women in “Mammo’, “Sardari Begum”, “Zubeidaa” and “Fiza”. One was warned time and again not to try a Muslim theme in “Fiza” or to cast Hrithik Roshan as a Muslim, but on looking back one is thrilled that one didn’t pay heed to advice and made the film as one had scripted it.


The bottom line is that characters must emerge from the plot, cast, creed and religion no bar. It doesn’t matter if you’e black or white, Hindu, Muslim or Christian. As long as you believe in a story, as long as you’re convinced that the story must be told, then you’re on the right track. Otherwise, you might as well play the stock market, the roulette, the horse races. Whatever, as long as it’s not cinema.