Cinema Veteran film writers feel the current trend of on-screen violence and abusive language is largely unjustified — dramatically or morally.
Abuse is the new muse in Bollywood, what with every
second filmmaker nowadays taking vicarious pleasure in inflicting a
heavy dose of cruelty — visual and oral — upon our senses. So rapidly is
the disease spreading that avid filmgoers are convinced that the day is
not far off when films, like tobacco products, would come with a
statutory warning about the content being dangerous for human
consumption! And if cancer is a natural corollary of long term use of
tobacco, it is inevitable that this onslaught of violence, nudity,
abusive dialogues and lurid songs will fracture our social conscience
beyond repair.
The purpose of art may be providing an
enlightened vision but it is an idea alien to most Bollywood producers,
barring a few, since they now treat cinema as cutthroat business rather
than a passion. Unlike Bimal Roy, Mehboob Khan, Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor,
Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Asit Sen and Nitin Bose whose films washed the
‘dirt’ from our souls, most writers and directors today seem in a hurry
to be the devil’s advocate to raise cheap money. Else, what explains the
overriding emphasis on abusive language and double entendre, sleaze and
mindless vitriol in films like “Delhi Belly”, “Gangs of Wasseypur”,
“Pyar Ka Panchnama”, “The Dirty Picture” or “Grand Masti” (to name a
few) instead of a poignant human story?
Noted film
writer Kamlesh Pandey opines such creations as “arrogance of filmmaking
with no concern about a movie being a public art with responsibility to
move audiences with good storytelling”. Despite penning outstanding
films like “Rang De Basanti”, “Beta”, “Tezaab” and “Saudagar”, Pandey is
no moralistic rabble rouser and can accept raw, abusive dialogue
provided it is part of a character’s daily life and serves the story.
While one may not agree with all the ‘liberties’ taken by Shekhar Kapur
in “Bandit Queen” (in the name of real life depiction), one understands
Pandey’s reference to the scene where “child Phoolan Devi’s use of an
abuse actually defines her character instead of titillating the
audience”. But these have to be rare exceptions as “abusive language or
an item song in the name of reality” are abuse of the most powerful
medium of modern times — apart from glamorising of indecency.
Like
the myth that Lata Mangeshkar has sung the highest number of songs in
the world and Shah Rukh Khan was the first Bollywood hero to depict a
negative role, many critics perpetuate the lie that offensive dialogues
are necessary to portray real-life issues in films. However, this
argument doesn’t hold water for Sagar Sarhadi who asks if films like
“Mujhe Jeeno Do”, “Gunga Jamuna”, “Mother India” or “Bazaar” did not
tackle real-life problems of the Indian heartland?
Crediting
such filmmakers as “powerful communicators with a great sense of social
responsibility”, the star writer-director explains, “These and many
earlier films not only depicted reality but also made strong
socio-political comments” without resorting to indecent language even
though most characters were based on real people who spoke abusively in
their natural environments. Writer of some of the finest romances like
“Kabhi-Kabhie”, “Silsila”, “Chandni” and “Bazaar” to list a few,
Sarhadi’s language in the personal domain is sprinkled with a fair dose
of rustic abuse, but he affirms “it cannot be a justification to put
abusive dialogues on screen”.
Sarhadi emphasises a
writer or director’s job is to provide a deeper insight or understanding
of an issue rather than glorifying and ornamenting outward appearances
of actors and props as most films do these days. In a certain sense,
Sarhadi is not off the mark. With entertainment trading on ‘emotional
violence’ (abusive dialogues, pelvic thrusts and suggestive lyrics too
are forms of aggression), producers depict ‘evil’ with great relish.
This
is a disturbing trend on television too, wherein murder is a nightly
fare for family audiences in the garb of information, via serials like
“Crime Patrol” and “Shaitaan”. American psychologists have long blamed
its cinema and television industry’s graphic accounts of ‘violence’ for
the country’s high percentage of mental illnesses, and we can only
wonder where Indian citizens would end up if this trend continues
unabated on our screens. No wonder the highly respected actor Tom Hanks
recently slammed glorification of violence in Hollywood movies, but we
have to wait and see if any Bollywood stalwart would object to this
blatant ‘abuse’ of screen and senses!
Prominent
writer Javed Siddiqui has over 50 film screen works to his credit and is
nauseated by “abuse camouflaged in the name of a script’s demand”. A
respected word weaver who has given a large number of thought provoking
dramas and wide variety of films from “Taal” to “Chakra” and “Umrao
Jaan” to “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge”, Siddiqui believes indecent
language and senseless violence is on the rise due to “lack of skills
and a noble vision to communicate a story”.
Anguished
by the apathy of irresponsible filmmakers’ towards society’s well
being, Siddiqui opines abusive films will lead to “erosion of moral
values that’ll harm several generations including their own children”
and regret thereafter will be of no use. He rues many fine writers and
directors are “selling their souls for bucks” endangering everyone’s
future.
It is a serious issue that administrators and
educationists must seriously reflect upon since films, television,
internet and computer games are all brainwashing children and adults
alike with glorification of abuse, violence and sex. According to
research by late Dr. David R Hawkins, a mental processes specialist,
every onslaught of ‘abuse’ damages the human mind and nervous system
leading to depression and physical weaknesses. Hawkins’ far reaching
findings have established how manic depression is a growing menace in
America because of years of glamorous depiction of violence in sex and
speech.
Surely we must take heed from other’s
mistakes, and if we don’t, probably it’ll be too late to avert a
disaster of monstrous proportions!
Courtesy- http://www.thehindu.com
No comments:
Post a Comment