Oppenheimer ka baap

Illustration/Uday Mohite

So this is how the plan appears: the hate mongers are pretty systematic about their national campaign. All of India must be saffronised ASAP, and any state that is not out and out saffron, becomes a bakra for their filmi agenda. North, The Kashmir Files, check. South, The Kerala Story, check. East, Anupam Kher is now playing Rabindranath Tagore from West Bengal, deep sigh! You know the formula. Expect some vicious stuff about his "softy" definitions of nationalism and "pro-Muslim stance", with mirch-masala tadka, OK panch phoran. West, last region left. How about Mahatma Gandhi and how his "ridiculous ideas of non-violence" and "pro-Muslim stance" have ruined the country? With pride that it was "one of our own," a true-blue patriot, who bumped him off, and not "the Other," with some more mirch-masala tadka, extra namak, Dandi-wala OK, ha ha, nudge nudge. Got it? The political handlers will give each film marks on the basis of whether the entire audience roared Jai Shri Ram at the end of the screening, swore some Goli maaron saalon ko dialogue, frothed at the mouth while brandishing a sword inside the theatre, and came to the screening wearing a red tilak, and dutifully gave ‘audience reaction' sound bytes about saving "our" daughters from "them". Kashmir Files is still leading the race, with Kerala Story lagging behind. We wait to see the other contenders in the race. Karnataka, they're coming for you next, any suggestions? Don't worry, top stars will vie to star in it, and the government will make it tax free, so the public will come in droves, fully primed after seeing the audience reaction videos of the previous two films, so there's a cumulative effect. Jingosim is not new of course, from pre-Independence till Uri: The Surgical Strike in 2019 and beyond. Bollywood at your service, Saar. And other language cinemas too.

This strategy is Oppenheimer ka baap. The atomic bomb has found its quickie Indian DIY equivalent in the love jihad bomb, a low budget, high delivery bomb: just circulate a few fake videos on WhatsApp University, get a few filmmakers to follow the template, stir well and bas, bloodbath ke liye taiyyar!

Whereas poor Oppenheimer, the American Jewish physicist, spent years of research with a team, trying to build the atomic bomb, partly driven by Nazi anti-Semitism, and was obliged to do the bidding of his political and military handlers. During World War II, the US dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, killing over 1,20,000 and thousands more from radiation exposure: Japan surrendered, ending World War II. Oppenheimer, seeing the horrific destruction the bomb caused and concerned about future terrors with further demands for a hydrogen bomb, wanted to place international controls on nuclear weapons, but his "softy" approach cost him his job with the US Atomic Energy Commission. Once the destructive genie is out of the bottle, every power drunk politico will want to play with it and use it for his own ends, but nobody will be able to put it back, that's the problem. And when it explodes, the handlers now grinning with pride do not realise that the fire will burn everybody to a cinder. Until then, theek hai, play with your new toy.

When you set the simplistic template - "All minority people are pure evil, all majority people are pure, innocent victims" - driven by a poisonous Us versus Them debate, the modus operandi itself ensures a powerful debasement of ourselves as human beings, twisting facts, emotions, to suit one's ends. For instance, Sudipto Sen's The Kerala Story, the filmmakers claimed, was based on "true facts of 32,000 women from Kerala" being brainwashed, recruited by ISIS and sent to Syria. When their bluff was called, they promptly changed their story to "three women from Kerala." Amazing. Sure, the story is valid even if it happened to one woman, but that doesn't make it a "Kerala story," as Kerala's population is about 3.5 crore. But facts and emotions are mere playthings for filmmakers to do their political handlers' bidding, wittingly or unwittingly. Be careful, the Revolution devours its children. Until then, enjoy!

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist.
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com