Using the creative liberty that the cinema medium provides to its makers, another OTT product has tried to demean the Hindu sentiments. Reportedly, a film titled ‘Jai Bhim’ starring Actor Surya was released on Amazon Prime last Tuesday (November 2) that has found itself in hot waters for its controversial take on the villains.
The movie, supposedly based on real-life events of 1990 where a lawyer fought to get justice for a tribal woman conveniently changes the script and shows the Vanniyar community as the villain. The police SI, the main villain in the movie, belongs to the Vanniyar community. In another scene, a photograph of the Vanniyar community’s iconic motif ‘fire’ is seen in the background in a frame featuring the police officer.
However, in reality, the sub-inspector who framed the Irular men and thrashed them was one ‘Anthony Sami’, and as the name suggests he was not from the Vanniyar community.
Soon after the controversy snowballed and people started to call out the makers for purposely making the Vanniyar’s the villains, the director of the movie promised to remove scenes from the film showcasing the said community as savages in the movie.
Kanmai Gunasekara, the dialogue writer of the movie was quoted as saying by News 18, “I was given very little work in the film. My job was to work on regional dialogues. The copy given to me did not have any symbols including that of Vanniyar. If I had seen those scenes I would have asked them to remove it as they were not at all relevant to the original event or I would have kept myself away from the film,”
Not the first time Hindus have been presented in a bad light
The Indian cinema industry and its obsession with painting Hindus in a bad light is not a new phenomenon. In June, earlier this year, Amazon Prime’s another release titled ‘Sherni’ starring Vidya Balan did just the same.
The movie was essentially based on Tigress Avni who had turned into a maneater and was recorded to have mauled 14 people to death. However, the hunter named Asghar Ali Khan who actually killed Avni was conveniently turned into kalawa-wearing Ranjan Rajhans aka Pintu Bhaiya while, Vidya Balan, whose character is loosely based on the real-life character of Bindi-wearing IFS officer KM Abharna was given a Christian name and identity – Vidya “Vincent”.
It is interesting to note that nearly all the forest department officials, who just so happen to be Hindu, have been shown as corrupt and deceitful except one man named Hassan Noorani. The movie goes to great lengths to portray that Hindu officers are simply incapable and apathetic in doing their jobs, sometimes not even fit to continue in the office.
Read More: Sherni movie: Real Muslim hunter becomes reel Hindu. Real forest officer becomes reel Christian
Mir Ranjan Negi becomes Kabir Khan in Chak De India
Similarly, Shahrukh Khan’s hit movie “Chak De India’ released in 2007 takes the story of a Hindu player and turns him into a Muslim to sell it to the audience.
As reported by TFI, ‘Chak De India’ is loosely based on the real-life character of Mir Ranjan Negi, a former Indian Hockey national, who was the goalkeeper in the 1982 Asian Games. India lost the final 1-7 against Pakistan and the entire anger of the country descended upon Negi who was in front of the net.
People instantly branded him a traitor and called him names for taking money from the Pakistan side. While the entire team performed badly, it was Negi who was singled out.
Akin to the movie, Negi redeemed himself by becoming the goalkeeping coach of the India women’s national field hockey team that won the Gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Chak De India, Indian Women’s Hockey and Muslim Victimhood: a thread.
Many people are praising #ChakDeIndja, for scripting the revival of Women’s hockey. I agree with them. It was a fantastic movie. It had an engaging script, brilliant performances and a mind blowing climax. But
— Atul Kumar Mishra (@TheAtulMishra) August 2, 2021
However, because his religious identity was different and it would have been difficult to sell it to the audience, the character of Kabir Khan was introduced in the movie, to rub the ‘Muslim victimhood’ agenda on the viewers. That’s how subtle messaging and propaganda works in Bollywood.
Jai Bhim has been praised by the left-liberal intellectuals on social media platforms incessantly, and the reason is now plain obvious why. The movie simply wants to mock the Hindus, and if the netizens hadn’t called out the makers, they would have managed to achieve their target.