Should Bollywood opt for a glossary?
The truth is that the more we develop as a society, the more we seem to be regressing and getting narrow-minded. We are becoming increasingly intolerant of other people's views and creativity.
BOLLYWOOD NEEDS its own glossary. A handbook for all lyricists with a list of what words to use and not use when it comes to writing lyrics. This handbook should be made after the blessings of every community, caste, creed, profession, village, vocation and the likes, so that tomorrow no lyricist is ever picked up for using a word which might just be derogatory to any of the above mentioned entities. Last week, we saw the film 'Kaminey' being pulled up by the Rashtriya Teli Rathore Chetna Mahasangh for the use of the word ‘teli’ (oil-merchant) in its title track. The usage of the word teli in the song had somehow injured the emotions of the Mahasangh. Using the word apparently reinforces the fact that they are a ‘under-privileged’ section of the society. How the use of a word manages to inflict such pain upon the entire community is somehow lost on us. Kaminey is just one of the many instances. Earlier this year, the film 'Billu Barber' managed a similar feat, with objections raised on the film title itself. The word ‘barber’ was deemed derogatory by the entire barber community because of the obvious reference to them and so the title had to be reduced to simply 'Billu'. The question is, if the film was about a barber's profession, won’t he be referred to in that way? Or would 'Billu Hair Stylist' be a better choice for the title? Similarly in 2007, Madhuri Dixit’s comeback film 'Aaja Nachle' only brought an uproar in the cobbler community. Here again like Kaminey, the title song had the word ‘mochi’ (cobbler) in it and had to be changed. However, in this case it was an entire line that had to be removed. Before that, it was the 2004 release 'Meenaxi – A Tale of Three Cities' which failed to stir the box office but sent Islamic scholars into a tizzy because of the song 'Noor un ala noor'. Reason? The word which means divine light cannot be used in the context of a human being as it was being used in the song. The song perfectly manages to maintain a balance between the description of the woman’s beauty and love for God. It’s just a matter of perception. Anyway, the hue and cry resulted in the film being pulled out of theatres even before it could complete two weeks. Clearly, these attacks are nothing but publicity stunts. However, it’s not the producers or distributors or the PR people of the film, who create the ruckus, it’s the so-called social organisations with ulterior motives that are behind them. These controversies crop up only after the film or song have become a hit and not immediately after they hit the air waves. Take a look at the above mentioned examples; Each of these films made news for some or the other reason. Beginning with Meenaxi, the film had M F Hussain at its helm, while Aaja Nachle was Madhuri’s comeback vehicle after marriage and two children. Billu Barber had Shahrukh Khan playing a superstar like himself, Priyadarshan as the director, Irfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone. These protests and attacks make no sense whatsoever as they have no agenda. Who cares if a profession is mentioned in a song? What is required is a forum of industry experts that can fight these allegations. Why should somebody’s body of work be trampled upon by a bunch of extremists with political aspirations? These attacks not only restrict but also insult some of the best creative minds of our country. Does someone like Gulzar need to be told what is acceptable and unacceptable when it comes to song lyrics? The only reason film-makers bow to such pressures is because of the lack of any regulation in this regard. The point is that moral policing on creativity needs to stop. Why do we perceive somebody’s freedom to be our constraint and where does something like this end? Tolerance and creative freedom is something that’s absent from our society. Media is the mirror of our society and restriction of the media doesn’t spell out development.
.Good narration on a specific issue. Media people knows all the tricks
of the trade as to how to pull crowds to watch a film. For cinema
associated people any publicity (including bad publicity) is a good
publicity as it create awareness for pulling people. Yes, our
Information and Broadcasting Ministry should appoint experts to
redefine many of the laws govering film industry; the existing laws
needs lots of amendments. First of all, personally, I am not
in favour of VIOLENCE SHOWN IN FILMS; however, given the freedom
to all of us a story writer and a director of a film equally enjoy
his freedom to incorporate everything including violence for
maximising returns on investment (from business economic sense it may
be correct!!!!). Again if we talk of good being done to society,
let there be a big curb on violence being shown in moovies. On a
slightly different note, after listening to some of the popular
charts of hindi filmi songs during the last decade, I feel 'melody'
is missing in a big way from many of these songs. During the
period 1970s, 1980s and even in 1990s melodious songs always
occupied top of the charts. It would be a good idea of some of the
popular melodious songs churned out through southern cinema (kannada,
tamil, telugu and kerala combined together) could be copied in hindi
films so that the audience at large are benefitted.
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