Just had the chance to view a hilarious song (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ja3XCe4e2gc&feature=related). This made me look for other songs from the movie "boot-polish". I came across another touching song (http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=IrSEQpUmq30&NR=1). And this song left me to ponder on many things.
Why do not we see movies like 'boot-polish' now a days? That was an era championed by Raj-Kapoor and his generation. That was an era of the erstwhile USSR and an era of India's tilt towards communist countries. Nehrujee might have preached the philosophy of NATO. But we all know that the USSR was a supporter of India (for whatever reason). May be thats why almost all middle-class family had some books on Communism. Almost all middle class youth had that bleeding heart for the poor. That was an era when seeaigenti (CIE agent) was a foul name to call anyone! That was an era when Bollywood movies professed the moral-strength of the poor, showed half-naked slum dwellers and demonstrated the superiority of the proletarians over the rich.
Has the poverty of the country vanished in these few decades? Have the slums and their dwellers disappeared from the face of earth? Does India now consist of only NRIs and industrialist? Why then I don't see any poor man in any movie from Bollywood? Why all box-office hits in small screen show women with kilograms of golden jewelry on them? Why there is no single movie like "boot-polish" or a TV serial like ham-log? Suddenly it seems everyone has become rich!
I do not know about the reasons. I also don't want to brood on them. But this is what I think its propagating. This is professing market-economy. This is professing all the wealth that you need in a small life. This is professing dis-morality. Lastly if anyone has marked, Indian cinema was based on the poor and suddenly its based on the life of rich. It missed the bridge, i.e. middle class. So this is propagating a race for easy-money!!
PS: And of course in the world portrayed by today's film and media, there is certainly no place for the poor! They are just forgotten, and at the same time all the audience (from inland and abroad) are made to forget them. To think India is shinning!!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
First war of Independence!
August 15th is coming. So I thought of blogging again! Over the years I saw dwindling enthusiasm of people in celebrating the day. We used to get so much excited when this day would come. First of all this brings a holiday and with that a toffee distributed by the school-principal! When TV came to our household, with these two things came the added benefit of watching some nice movie. Once I left my home-town the importance of this day has decreased, so has the importance of a free toffee. Today I find that a free toffee is almost of no value for the current generation of kids. The excitement for watching a patriotic movie has also almost vanished. As a matter of fact I dont think many can link to that past. Take for example Sepoy Mutiny, which some historians call the first war of independence.
Once I was thinking about this war. I think it was after the release of the movie "Mangal Pandey". Why should we call this the first war of independence? Who among the leaders understood the meaning of indepedence? When an action is taken, we have to look at the cause and the desired effect. What was the cause for which all those leaders jumped into war? To me it was the simple motive of regaining their kingdoms or zamindaris. Amongst all the leaders were from royal families and have joined the force because of the "Doctrine of Lapse". They had no direct son and hence East-India Company took over their zamindari. So they did not come for independence. Now look at the Sepoys. They were all Indians. They were mainly pissed off my the Enfield Rifle. And when they saw their own Rajahs leading a war their loyalty made them join force. So these to me are the causes of the war. Now lets look at the desired goal. If we observe the happenings in the war, it tells us a lot. People went till Delhi, captured it and declared the poor Nawab as the Nawab of Hind! This shows the lack of any immediate future plans. With all these pitfalls, I don't see why should we call it the first war of Independence? There were wars fought before this, there were sacrifices made before this. So why this one? Just because there were more Nawabs and Rajas involved here? Or just because Delhi came into picture here? I don't know. ..
Once I was thinking about this war. I think it was after the release of the movie "Mangal Pandey". Why should we call this the first war of independence? Who among the leaders understood the meaning of indepedence? When an action is taken, we have to look at the cause and the desired effect. What was the cause for which all those leaders jumped into war? To me it was the simple motive of regaining their kingdoms or zamindaris. Amongst all the leaders were from royal families and have joined the force because of the "Doctrine of Lapse". They had no direct son and hence East-India Company took over their zamindari. So they did not come for independence. Now look at the Sepoys. They were all Indians. They were mainly pissed off my the Enfield Rifle. And when they saw their own Rajahs leading a war their loyalty made them join force. So these to me are the causes of the war. Now lets look at the desired goal. If we observe the happenings in the war, it tells us a lot. People went till Delhi, captured it and declared the poor Nawab as the Nawab of Hind! This shows the lack of any immediate future plans. With all these pitfalls, I don't see why should we call it the first war of Independence? There were wars fought before this, there were sacrifices made before this. So why this one? Just because there were more Nawabs and Rajas involved here? Or just because Delhi came into picture here? I don't know. ..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)