Outrage over the horrific incident that made headlines last month has not yet subsided. The debate is still on, thankfully so, and barring some truly silly, stupid, insensitive, pathetic and callous comments from a handful of co-called leaders belonging to various fields, the 'issues' raised have been worthy enough of a drawing board conversation. One such issue has been directed at Bollywood itself which is primarily centered on the way women are depicted on screen.
Is that right or wrong? Well, of course these are point of views. Some may advocate that all of this truly needs a rethink. Fair enough; that is well respected. However, there is a different point of view as well.
For starters, it just doesn't make sense to actually start looking at the world of films for all the troubles that may arise in various parts of the country. If that was ever the case, all women across the big cities and small towns would have resembled those seen in the TV serials, all youngsters would have been as yuppie and happening as those who feature in numerous youth programs and all kids would have been as smart and inquisitive as the ones shown in the advertisements.
Or perhaps vice versa with everything happening in real life being truly depicted on screen!
It is the world of entertainment after all which plays on screen and for all the talks of real life and reel life aping each other, the fact remains that there is a wide disparity that exists. And that by the way isn't just restricted to the portrayal of women; it could be for the other gender as well.
When Salman Khan turned 'Prem' for umpteen number of films in the 90s, did that give rise to the culture of joint families? So why an outrage over certain songs, that may have been pointed by certain so-called historians and referred to as the evils that were out there to destroy Indian culture?
Come on, aren't we talking of a free world here? How can a song, a situation or a dress worn by a female in a film change someone's outlook towards a person in real life?
Moreover, what plays on big screen could well be a mere fraction of far more risqué stuff that could be available on people's hard discs and pen drives! Porn continues to be most downloaded and traffic inciting medium of entertainment globally. Does that mean that it should be 're-thought' as well? Would its curbing result in increasing or decreasing the rate of sex related crime? Debatable again and best left to be analyzed by those who doing a research on social behaviours.
However, the point remains that challenging Bollywood as being the root of evils is an extremely myopic view of the entire affair. At the end of the day, it is a very tiny segment of some sick minds out there who are indulging in crime, be it related to sex or any other kind. For those crores of cine-goers and the ones belonging to the 'aam junta', there are those handful of psychos who have an agenda of their own.
Would taking away of a 'Chikni Chameli' or Jism make them think any different? Well, a farfetched thought indeed!
Yes, just like every issue, there has to be a correction, corrective and a preventive action. However, first and foremost requirement is to be sure about where the core issue lies. And if one is practical enough about the whole situation, Bollywood is certainly not remotely close to being a core issue. It is being made a scapegoat and that's because people belonging to this industry as well as the ones who are running the government or ruling the media plus that handful of 'junta' on social networking are the ones most exposed.
The government is anyways finding itself in the thick of things every now and then. Media requires its own set of ammunition to keep the fire burning and bringing all sides to the stories (which make the best copies). 'Junta' has to vent its anger (and rightly so) where aforementioned entities turn out to be the clear cut targets due to high visibility factor.
In the middle of this all, Bollywood has time and again found itself in the forefront. It wasn't any different earlier on when the song 'Sexy Sexy Mujhe Log Bolein' was considered to be corrupting the youth. It isn't any different today when the likes of Bhatts are being challenged to be 'exploiting' women in their films.
No wonder, Mahesh Bhatt has gone on record to state in an interview to a fellow colleague - 'I have never, never looked at a woman as a commodity. I dare anybody to pick any film of mine and say that here the woman was a commodity'.
For someone used to such debates, he can well be expected to be ready with such answers.
The point though is - 'Are we asking the right questions?'
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