Cinema is a strong tool that can either act as a reformative one or a destructive one. Propaganda inevitably comes with politics, but what makes BJP different is the neo-fascist approach that has been taken to promote violence and hatred towards minorities. Muslims become the centre-point of that target. It would not be wrong to say that cinema is the opium of the masses. When religion, propaganda and cinema come together, the magnitude of the result is unfathomable.
Since 2014, movies like PM Narendra Modi, The Kerala Story, Swatantra Veer Savarkar, 72 Hoorain, and Kashmir Files have been released with the sole motive to pedestalize the current regime and dehumanise the Muslim community. A new genre is being created through which structural and physical violence is perpetuated, glorified and promoted. Although Bollywood has a history of misrepresenting Muslims, this is a step forward to solely dehumanise and desensitise the most deprived community.
Society and cinema
Before anything, cinema is what builds pop culture. It is one of the most popular art forms anywhere in this world. Movies bring out the internal and external hidden realities of the world by transcending the boundaries of space and time. They are not purely for entertainment purposes because subconsciously they are forming a worldview, giving you an identification and an identity. Therefore, in this manner, they are an effective and extremely influential tool that can bring change in society.
George Gerbner introduced the Cultivation theory which examines the effect of media on the viewers. The diagram below is a pictorial depiction of the influence of media and its lasting effects on the masses. The longer people spend time in front of the television, the more they form their worldviews centring around what is being shown over it and conduct their actions conforming to that.
People are getting direct experiences of the ‘real world’ through bigoted news channels and cinema. Thus, the content shown, despite being false and distorted, becomes the objective reality for them. Social reality is being formed through cinema with a homogenised worldview and stance against one single community. This carefully crafted ‘reality’ has a heavy influence on the audience and is accepted without questions.
Furthermore, cinema and television do not require literacy, thus providing easy access, almost universal. It is both auditory and visual, consequently building more credibility, with higher reach and persuasiveness that evokes interest.
Thus, it is in the process of reflecting and portraying a culture that movies are creating a culture, a pop culture.
The new cinematic genre
This new genre comprises many different genres, namely, utopian, dystopian and bildungsroman. Through these, with the help of cinema, a very strong narrative is being pushed successfully to manipulate the diverse society to believe in: the homogeneity of the Indian state (like UCC) and the anti-muslim agenda.
Marginalisation of one community has become very common and is being practised through different means i.e. economically, socially and politically. This exclusion is considered a victory of good over evil. Without further digression, let us focus on and explore the new cinematic genre emerging in the time of Modi.
There is no doubt that Bollywood has always misrepresented Muslims in movies by perpetuating the stereotypical image of Muslims, which is either as a terrorist or a savage or of fetishism and exoticness. A stronger and purer form of that genre is continued in these times, that is being sold to the audience across India. Bollywood is being attacked and a new low-budget cinema is emerging. The censor board, too, is now the mouthpiece of the government.
This genre commenced with the release of the biopic of PM Narendra Modi in 2019. The movie was a mix of the three aforementioned genres emphasising the growth of Modi from youth to adulthood. It was not a mere portrayal, but rather a monomaniacal fixation on him. Only through Modi, the dystopian India can turn into a utopian Indian state. When ECI put a hold on the movie due to upcoming elections, BJP denied having any links between the movie and Narendra Modi. Furthermore, even the temporary hold on the movie was labelled as a curtailment of freedom of speech and expression by the BJP. This is quite ironic as the BBC documentary on Modi was banned after it was screened in several universities.
Concludingly, the government is proactively working towards the promotion of these movies. PM Narendra Modi praised The Kerala Story and made it tax-free in BJP-ruled states. The movies too are performing exceptionally well at the box office. Kashmir Files crosses 300 crores at the box office making it the third highest-grossing movie of the year 2022. It also received praise from the PM and was made tax-free in many states. The PM remarked that the entire ‘ecosystem’ tried to hide the truth for a long time, but it has now come out.
Muslims: The cause of the dystopian present
Newspapers, digital media platforms, news channels and movies receive support from the government. The state is collapsing and deteriorating, the cause of which is not the government, but some ‘fringe elements’ i.e. Muslims. They are being posed as a potential and a constant threat through cinema and various news channels. New inventions of different forms of jihad by Zee News to desensitise the Muslim community have become normal and rampant.
The cinema too is shifting accordingly. Muslim women are portrayed oppressed, by none other than villainous Muslim men. Movies are being made on completely false claims and narratives and presented to the audience as an objective reality of the ‘other’ Muslim world. For example, the Kerala story was screened as a hidden truth of thousands of Muslims, where thousands of fictitious Hindu women fall into the love-jihad trap, are radicalised and made to join the militant Islamic organisation.
Similarly, The Kashmir files, too, follow the same narrative. The movie has portrayed the plight of Kashmiri pandits but undoubtedly has vilified Kashmiri Muslims. Thus, perpetuating the stereotypical view of Kashmiri Muslims in the mainstream media. The vilification and caricaturization of Muslims is achieved through the inclusion of factual inaccuracies like terming it as ‘genocide’, and throwing all Muslims under the bus by portraying them as hostile and anti-national. Similarly, the movie also asserts that all Kashmiris were forced to convert to Islam.
The upcoming utopian world
Modi is not just another PM, but there is rather a monomaniacal fixation on him by his supporters or acolytes. His personality is built as that of an infallible leader, whose criticism is equivalent to blasphemy. This new genre, therefore, pedestalizes him and highlights the economic and societal development (falsely) done by BJP. He is shown as a ‘feminist’ icon who speaks against dowry and helps rural women. A Modi cinematic universe is created that continues through various channels.
Furthermore, Indian history is manipulated on several fronts. In cinema, there is a rise in movies centring around historical figures that were hitherto considered negative. Swatantra Veer Savarkar, an upcoming movie, established Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as a revolutionary hero. Those who are aware, refrain from using ‘veer’ for him as he not only avoided fighting against the British but rather collaborated with them to prove his loyalty. The current family members of Bose refuted such claims made by Hooda and the movie. There are several instances where Ambedkar, Bose and Gandhi criticised him too. Despite that we see PM Modi mentioning him in independence day speeches along with prominent freedom fighters, we see filmmakers (The Kerala Story and Veer Savarkar) coming together to make new projects, chapters on democracy being dropped off from school syllabus, the inclusion of Savarkar’s philosophy in the university curriculum, and on top of that we see cinema too jumping the bandwagon.
In this manner, whether it be through contemporary figures or historical ones in cinema, a narrative is being built that pushes the agenda of the Hindu Rashtra. The attempt to homogenise the Indian state is achieved through different means, and cinema is the most effective of them. History is being re-centred only around Hinduism and likewise the present. The Utopian world i.e. the Hindu Rashtra can only be made possible through the removal of the dystopian present and regaining the ‘lost glory’ that is being shown on television and in movies. In all movies, we see a pattern of picking out single cases and presenting them as a reality and mentality of the Muslim majority and marginalising them further.
Just a small reflection would be: You would not learn Hinduism in a masjid, astronomy from your literature professor and marketing from a linguist, then why are you willing to learn Islam from cinema, media, news, or anyone who doesn’t have a formal degree in it? Knowledge of any topic requires an educated conviction. It differs from belief. Thus, a great responsibility lies on the filmmakers and the content that is going to be produced. Cinema as a tool to impart knowledge acts as a window to enable people to look into other cultures and religions, therefore, taking part in unlearning stereotypes, dismantling xenophobia, islamophobia, etc and forming a worldview around the content that is being shown.
Madiha Ansari is a literature graduate interested in languages, culture, translation and theology.
