' Religious Prejudices Of Our Society And Role Of Film Industry In Its Reformation''

' RELIGIOUS PREJUDICES OF OUR SOCIETY AND ROLE OF FILM INDUSTRY IN ITS REFORMATION'

INDIAN SOCIETY IS PREDOMINANTLY A RELIGIOUS ENSEMBLE. RELIGION IS PRACTISED

AND PROFESSED IN DIFFERENT WAYS WITHOUT ACTUALLY SHARING THE DEPTH OF

KNOWLEDGE , DEVOTION , LOVE AND CARING PRESENT IN RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AND

VRIOUS CULTURES OF OUR INCREDIBLE COUNTRY.

THERE IS AN EXTENSION OF BELIEF THAT GOES BEYOND PERSONAL LIVES INTO THE SOCIAL ORDER ALSO. AN INNATE COMPONENT OFTHIS RELIGIOUS ETHOS IS THE PRESENCE OF A DEEP ROOTED CULT OF ‘GODMEN’ IN INDIAN SOCIETY, WHICH ENCOMPASSES VARIOUS FAITHS AND CULTURAL PRACTICES.

THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF AVOWED SPIRITUALISTS AND MYSTICS WHO INSPIRE THE

DEVOTION OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FOLLOWERS , BELIEVERS AND OFTEN LIVE LAVISH LIFESTYLES THEMSELVES WHILE HOBNOBBING WITH POLITICAL PARTIES THAT CALL ON THEM TO MOBILISE VOTERS (“FROM RADHE MAA TO SARATHI BABA,” HINDUSTAN TIMES, 2015).

INDIAN FILMS HAS BEEN DEPICTING SAGES AND SAINTS FROM ITS VERY BEGINNING, AND OFTEN IN A STEREOTYPICAL MANNER THAT CONFORMS TO RELIGIOUS CONSERVATISM. SOME OF

THESE SELF-STYLED HOLY MEN AND WOMEN AND THEIR NOT-SO-HOLY ACTS HAVE BEEN

IN THE SPOTLIGHT RECENTLY. NEWS MEDIA TOO HAVE BEEN REFLECTIVE OF

SUPERSTITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH ‘GODMEN’ AND HAVE EXPOSED HIGHLY REVERED

‘BABAS’ AND ‘GURUS’(AS THESE GODMEN ARE CALLED IN INDIA).

THERE HAS BEEN A LONG DEBATE ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN INDIA AND THE FILM

INDUSTRY ONLY TAKES IT FURTHER, EXPOSING VARIOUS DIMENSIONS OF CURBING

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE GENERAL APPROACH OF PEOPLE TOWARDS RELIGION AND ITS

PRACTICES OR PORTRAYALS TO THE MASS MAJORITY OF OUR POPULATION AS ALMOST

EVERYBODY NOW-A-DAYS WATCHES MOVIES .

CONSERVATISM IN CASE OF RELIGION HAS OFTEN BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN CHALLENGING CINEMATIC REPRESENTATIONS THAT WEAVE AROUND REVISIONIST NARRATIVES ON RELIGION, CULTURE, OR VALUES AND IT BECOMES MORE CRITICAL WHEN IT IS WOVEN THROUGH A GENDERED PRISM AS THESE PERSPECTIVES GO AGAINST ALL THE TRADITIONALIST APPROACHES.

THE CONVENTIONAL CONSERVATISM VERSION OF HINDUISM WHICH ITS REPRESENTATIVES

APPROVE IS THE ONLY ‘GENUINE’ VERSION WHICH GETS ABSORBED EASILY BY THE COMMON POPULATION, AND FILMS CONTRASTING WITH THIS SHALL CONTINUE TO FACE PROTESTS BUT THEY MUST NOT STOP RATHER KEEP REFORMING THE PEOPLE OF OUR SOCIETY .

IN OUR SOCIETY THE ISSUES OF SUBJECTIVITY AND MYOPIA HAVE BEEN AND CONTINUE TO PLAGUE A SOCIETY LIKE INDIA, WHICH TAKES GREAT PRIDE IN UPHOLDING THE RHETORIC OF CALLING ITSELF A ‘SECULAR’ NATION. THUS THE FILM INDUSTRY PLAYS A MAZOR ROLE IN EDUCATING THE

PEOPLE AND MAKINNG THEM REALISE THE RIGHT AND WRONG OF AGE OLD

SUPERSTICIOUS BELIEFS WHICH HAS BEEN INCULCATED BY A FEW SELFISH AND FAVOURED

PEOPLE OF OUR SOCIETY AND THE POLITICIANS , ALL FOR THEIR OWN LUXURY , WELL

BEING, AND RECKLESS LIFE.THESE SO CALLED ‘GURUS’ ARE VERY PERSUASSIVE AND

RECKLESSLY CONSISTENT ENOUGH TO CREATE WEB OF LIES AND DECIET AND FALSE ,

STUPID , SUPERSTICIOUS BELEIFS INTO THE GENERAL PUBLIC .

‘BEWARE OF THEM AND KEEP YOUR MIND FREE FROM ALL THESE COMPULSIONS AND

DISTRACTIONS , AND HAVE FAITH IN THE DIVINE OR THE GREAT BEYOND OR THE

ALMIGHTY’

‘KEEP EDUCATING YOURSELVES AND EACH OTHER, WATCH GOOD , SOCIALLY REFORMING

MOVIES AND MAKES THIS COUNTRY A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN WITHOUT LIES AND

DECIEIT BUT WITH FAITH AND LOVE AND HOPE ’

THANK YOU