The argumentative Indian has been replaced by the over-sensitive Indian. So much so that the collective sensitivity of the nation has started dictating what we can watch, eat and wear, and who we can date. Now, streaming platforms are kowtowing to our sensitive side.
Netflix’s decision to remove Tamil star Nayanthara’s Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food may have appeased former Shiv Sena leader Ramesh Solanki, who filed a complaint with the police against the movie for hurting ‘Hindu sentiments’. But where does that leave the rest of us Indians who are more—for want of a better word—thick-skinned? The film hurt Solanki’s sentiments several times over—when a character cites a verse from Ramayana to suggest that Ram ate meat, or that a Hindu woman is shown befriending a Muslim man.
If we are going to take offence at anything and everything that does not fit within a religious belief system, we will soon have a dearth of voices or content. The volume of ‘hurt sentiments’ is creating space for more arbitrary behaviour. From questioning the colour of Deepika Padukone’s bikini in Pathaan to now successfully managing to have Annapoorani removed from Netflix, one has to put a foot down, instead of cowering. This is nothing but bullying, and the golden rule is not to back down and give in. It only empowers the bully.
In this particular case, Netflix did not have a physical threat of theatres burning, considering the movie ran its course on the big screen. So it took the coward’s way out. Every time someone gives in, it signals the shrinking of creative expression. Netflix really should have shown a spine, especially with the kind of range and variety it brings to its streaming platform.
Instead of marvelling at the cultural or religious synthesis across communities, we now find such interactions problematic. When did this happen? Even choosing to look at belief systems through a different lens, in cinema, comes with threats, FIRs and calls for boycott. How did we let this happen? Annapoorani as a film is not even that great, but nobody is critiquing the plot, acting, script and the overall production.
A regular affair
What happened with Annapoorani is neither new nor surprising.
In Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja (2001), whose posters were burnt followed by attacks on theatres, Madhuri Dixit plays a local theatre actress Janki. In a scene that triggered the Shiv Sena, Janki plays Sita and on stage asks why only she was asked to immolate herself in fire to prove her purity. Even Ram was separated from his wife for 14 years, and even he should prove his purity. Both in the movie and in real life, this scene elicited a wave of protests.
Even with Padmaavat (2018), there were allegations of misrepresentations of queen Padmavati, and the protests were led by Karni Sena. People were threatening to set themselves on fire if the film was released. Deepika Padukone also received death threats by members of the outfit on social media, for alleged ‘distortion’ of Padmavati’s character. They even threatened to cut off her nose, like Surpanakha in Ramayana.
Even for OMG2, which was released last year, a Hindu outfit named Rashtriya Hindu Parishad sought a ban and offered Rs 10 lakh to anyone who spit or slapped actor Akshay Kumar. The film was finally released with 27 cuts and the adult ’A’ rating. This happened despite the film’s well-intentioned theme of promoting sex education among children and teenagers.
Bans, cuts, and apologies are always trending. Perhaps, we should all switch off and watch only Tom & Jerry. The cats and mice have yet to take umbrage over how the cartoon series represents them.