MEDIA-CREATED MONSTERS

I am often surprised by the hypocrisy displayed by our print and electronic media. They make gratuitous folk heroes out of total nonentities; and then they appear pained at the excesses perpetrated by them.

The latest example of this is the ridiculous fuss - and the media hype - being created over the film "Jodha Akbar". A hitherto fringe group, calling itself the Rajput Karni Sena (Army) (the Shiv Sena has displayed a lack of foresight by not taking out a patent on the 'sena' nomenclature: now 'senas' of various hues seem to be mushrooming all over India), has taken umbrage because Jodha, a Rajput princess, has been depicted as the wife of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir, instead of the spouse of Jehangir's father, Akbar. They claim that Rajput honour has been sorely affronted by this inaccuracy. So they have disrupted the screening of the film all over Rajasthan. Even by the standards of nonsensical issues that become causes celebre these days, this takes the cake. It is not as if a Rajput princess has been insulted by being portrayed a s a slut, or even a commoner. What possible difference could it make to the present generation if she is said to have married the son, instead of the father?

Movies distorting historical and other facts in the name of 'artistic licence' are nothing new. Hollywood has been doing it for the past 80 years. A standard joke making the rounds of Hollywood in the 1960s went something like this.

An author is being felicitated on the release of his latest novel. "Thanks," he avers, "I got the idea from the movie they made of my previous book."

An equally banal fracas was engineered a couple of years ago, over the movie "Fanaa". The film was banned all over Gujarat, not because of the content of the movie, but because its star, Aamir Khan had opined that the raising of the Narmada dam was unwise, because it would displace several hundred poor families. How that was presented as an insult to Gujarati asmita (pride) remains a mystery to me. What is even more puzzling is why the supposedly literate and intelligent Gujaratis fell for it.

The point I am trying to make is that these self-proclaimed 'champions of the people' are worthy of nothing but contempt. Left to their own devices, they would rapidly sink back into the obscurity whence they emerged. Instead, they witness their vacant, maniacal mug shots displayed on countless television screens; and splashed across newspapers - and get emboldened. And I am not talking about tabloids and scandal sheets here, but mainstream periodicals. I do not buy the argument that the media is obliged to give them prominence because they constitute 'news'. They make news precisely because the media affords them totally disproportionate and unwarranted attention. Fortuitous demonstrations like these have no social relevance whatsoever; and deserve to have no impact on the lives of the general populace. They do so only since the media builds them up - to sell copies and eyeballs. And then, the very same media pontificate on how such activities are decaying the fabric of Indian society. Can you blame me for showing disgust at their hypocrisy?

A larger issue here is why federal and state governments allow these goons to dictate terms. For example, by allowing a bunch of ruffians to disrupt the movie all over the state - a film, by the way, that many Rajasthanis are very eager to watch - the state government is not only abdicating its responsibility, but displaying its indifference or, even worse, its impotency.

Some would, perhaps, argue that it is only a movie, after all. True, but by extension, such governmental apathy can have very damaging consequences. The recent mayhem caused by the MNS in Mumbai - where they targeted non-Maharashtrians - has resulted not only in displacement of ethnic groups, but extensive damage to property; and a significant loss to the national exchequer. By dithering over taking action over the ringleaders, our politicians have, as usual, done a fine job of making a mockery of good governance. What we certainly do not need is for the media to add to that.