It’s a whole new world of politics in entertainment

Given all the Hindi film songs that have been shot in Switzerland, it would have been fitting for Bollywood to be neutral territory.

A worried acquaintance sent me a message recently. “Urgent!” she pinged. “Is there any chance Aladdin might not release next week?”

“It’s [Disney’s Alladin] not going to get cancelled because it’s a Muslim story, is it?,” a worried acquaintance asked me recently. (HT file)

Initially, I thought that she was reacting badly – as I had – to the live-action remake of Disney’s 1992 animated classic. So far, the new Aladdin looks like a cringe-inducing, exotic spectacle that will embarrass Arabs in particular and brown people in general. But her concern was different. Her “mommy group” had plans to take their kids to see Aladdin. “But it’s not going to get cancelled because it’s a Muslim story, is it?” she asked.

Never one to pass up a chance to dish out trivia from a postcolonial angle, I told her that, FYI, Aladdin was originally an Arabic folk tale set in China. So technically, it wasn’t a Muslim story as much as an Arab fantasy about China; which an 18th century French translator had relocated to his version of the exotic Middle East when he added Aladdin to a translation of 1001 Nights. She wrote back, “I just want to know about the Disney film.” I refrained from sharing more insights into Orientalism and instead informed her that Disney was definitely releasing English, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions.

“Things won’t change after May 23? You know, that’s when we get the results,” she said, as though any of us who have been following the Lok Sabha elections could forget that detail. When I told her that irrespective of which political party gets the most seats, it was unlikely that an anti-Aladdin Hindu rashtra would be established in less than 24 hours, she sent me an angry emoji. “Don’t go Bengali on me. Just tell me if I have to make alternative plans for 10 kids,” she said.

So I sent her the ultimate assurance: Badshah singing “Sab Sahi Hai Bro”, the song he has allegedly written for the Aladdin movie. Needless to say, I have not heard from said acquaintance since. (Whether this is because she’s no longer worried about the release or because she’s been rendered catatonic by Badshah’s attempt at musicality, I can neither confirm nor deny.)

The point to note here is not the possible effect of Badshah upon one’s motor skills, but that a regular audience member is aware that the fate of entertainment rests upon politics. Meanwhile, pillars of our entertainment industry would have you believe that they’re entirely apolitical or as actor Ranveer Singh put it in an interview with critic Anupama Chopra, “happy bunnies, going like ‘bolo azadi’” (he was talking about a song from Gully Boy, which managed to flatten all the edginess out of Indian hip hop).

The conflict between conservatives and liberals has infiltrated every aspect of our lives today. No one can afford to be unaware of politics any more, not even members of mommy groups. Given all the Hindi film songs that have been shot in Switzerland, it would have been fitting for Bollywood to be neutral territory. However, if neutrality was the goal, then we wouldn’t be seeing this contest between actors Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar to become this generation’s Manoj Kumar. Neither would Bollywood’s bunnies have bounded up to take gleeful selfies with the Prime Minister on the eve of the elections. Nor would actors and producers have participated in the PM’s Twitter campaign. Surely people who are storytellers by profession know how symbolism and messaging works?

In America, Hollywood has stood mulishly opposed to President Donald Trump. Bollywood, in contrast, has been diligently subservient in face of threats of intimidation and censorship. If this meant fun films, we could have forgiven the Hindi film industry, but Bollywood being apolitical has meant unwatchable films like Student of the Year 2 and Manikarnika.

That we’re producing bad fiction is unforgivable because India’s current affairs are ripe with navarasa. Our news includes Congress accusing opponents of doing black magic on electronic voting machines; actor Sunny Deol waving a giant hand pump in the air while campaigning; and terror accused Pragya Thakur saying gaumutra cured her of cancer (she also had three surgeries to check the cancer, according to surgeon Dr SS Rajput, but obviously it was the cow pee that did the job). Look beyond the elections and you’ll learn about the radar-defying capacities of clouds and how India had digital cameras in 1987 (the rest of the world was waiting for Kodak and Apple to do the needful in the 1990s. No doubt the divine engineer Vishwakarma had built a prototype for our Prime Minister to try out).

To quote a song from Aladdin, it’s a whole new world. Dear Bollywood, please step up. Everyone else, go watch the trailer for Leila.