Hindi cinema’s jump in the propaganda waters   

When the protagonist shouts “How’s the Josh?” in Uri: The surgical strike, the audience cheered in nationalist frenzy, forgetting a very basic fact that the film boasting of a surgical strike shouldn’t have been made in the first place because it was a secret Army operation. Laying bare any secret operation only makes the country’s security vulnerable. Please remember most of Hollywood films harping on the US Army’s bravado and operations are based on their operations abroad and not their neighbouring countries. This, however, doesn’t justify making films on secret Army operations.

Well, there is always a very thin line that segregates political films from propaganda films and from films based on political personalities. Hollywood boasts of making plenty of patriotic plus propaganda films eulogising the US Army and soldiers. Those films definitely woo the audience but lack creative finesse. There is a very clear-cut division in the West between propaganda and ‘patriotic’ films and political films. Most of the ‘political’ films try to be objective even when they are portraying a political leader. Most other films based on the army or any such army operations usually try to focus (either obviously or subtly) on the futility of war or battles. Hurt Locker, Dunkirk, even the iconic Platoon and many other war movies bring to fore the futility and tragedy of war more than glorifying it.

But well, these are not political films and this does not happen in Hindi films. When we talk about war in our films, it’s more like glorifying war and soldiers and the act of dying on the battlefield. We can’t say anything otherwise. It’s sacrilegious. Anything against war is anti national, anti-patriotic. Hence, we have just a handful of one-dimensional war movies, winning people’s attention with loud slogans and unrealistic ‘love for the country’.

This reflects in our political films too.

There are certain things which we can’t afford to be critical about. During the times of parallel cinema (in the late 70s and eighties), almost every film of the genre made a bold political comment and mostly against the establishment and the government. But very few of them became the victim of the Censor Board. One film which has become more popular today than it was when it was released in 1983, is Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. Although a satire, the film conveyed a strong political comment. On the contrary, the commercial cinema of the time only boasted of crude romantic films or violence of angry-young-man-ish ones with loud music and dialogues. The 90’s only had some loud films crying foul over corruption and corrupt leaders. We can’t call them political films because that actually became a way of venting out frustration in our society weighed down by corruption, regressive values and unwillingness to change.

The beginning of twenty-first century brought some kind of political fervour in our films. Rang De Basanti can be called a film with a strong political comment. Then there came quite a few films that could be called ‘political’. Rajneeti, Sarkar, Gangajal, etc. They were decently made films with not much of comment or a stand. Among them, Shanghai, Gulaal, Hazaron Khwahishen Aisee, Gangs of Wasseypur, Aamir, A Wednesday were not only quality films but also had subtle political statements deftly woven into the plot. Madras Café was yet another film which showcased deep research in the subject and good presentation as well. But it did not do well at the box office.

In the past few years, taking a political stand in films has become more of a publicity stunt. A comedy like Total Dhamaal has dialogues focusing on Gujarati pride and a Gujarati getting a US visa. Films fondly include dialogues having references to either the saffron forces or PM Modi.

Then, there are loud propaganda films. Wrapped in a social or the historical issue, the films very overtly and loudly promote the present regime. If Goliyon ki Raslila…had saffron as its theme colour, it also had the aggressive image of the otherwise peaceful Lord Rama and of course beautiful Gujarat too. We then have Padman, Toilet Ek Premkatha, Kesari, all claiming to be either films on the social cause or on a historical event, but directly or indirectly eulogising the present regime of the right wing party.

Till 2014, we had not witnessed such open propaganda films which presented a glamorised version of the government policies and the central leadership. By 2017, 18 Hindi filmmakers even shed the thin veil of a social or historical pretext and started making openly propaganda films in favour of the present regime. Their quality and creativity are completely a different matter to discuss as they showed poor research and portrayals too. Indu Sarkar, Thackeray, PM Narendra Modi, Accidental Prime Minister, Dirty Politics, Tashkent Files, etc. had sub-standard production quality and showed complete lack of objectivity.

Hindi cinema, which never, even in the times of Gandhi and Nehru seemed mesmerised with a party or a personality (though some films did have messages of non-violence and humanity as their theme or in their songs), now seems to be overtaken by the ruling party and its leader. Creativity has to be free of such obsession to be able to produce quality work, leave aside a film.

After about 106 years of making cinema, a very basic question haunts us even now. Will our filmmakers ever be able to make refined subtle political drama which could boast of quality production, thorough research and most important of all, objectivity