Immoderate reactions on trivial issues. Are we offended easily?

• bey0ndM@gz!ne
• February 14, 2018
• Entertainment
• 0 Comments

In recent times people have taken offense to trivial matters and they gave been blown of proportion. Certain rumors and hearsay have triggered aggressive arguments and endless debates.

One such recent instance was the Padmawati Row. Distortion of history is uncalled for; however many textbooks in India have distorted history .The people that were offended by the history being distorted did not even know the year in which Khilji had attacked Chittor. This was definitely not for the preservation of history. There is no history mentioned of Queen padmini and the only place where she can be found is in the folk tales of Rajasthan. A mention of her beauty can be found in a poem written by Malik Mohammed Jaysi in year 1540.

The Karni sena was adamant on the banning of the film. They wanted to chop off the actresses nose because she dared to portray the queen they worshipped on screen. They forgot to respect an acclaimed actress and they were ready to disrespect her to protect the respect of a fictitious woman. Even if she was a real person she died centuries ago. At least Deepika Padukone gave her a face.

The filmmaker has made it very clear from the onset that he is not making a historically accurate film. Cinema is meant for entertainment. Cinema is art. Art cannot be restricted and judged on morality, If he would have made a historical documentary based on those times; historians could have ripped him apart for presenting distorted history. The film is historical fiction and he has ensured that he makes it grand and entertaining.

The Karni sena was adamant on the banning of the film. They wanted to chop off the actresses nose because she dared to portray the queen they worshipped on screen.

Even educated people were seen aggressively fighting and being rigid about this issue. This is definitely not a good sign. Religious intolerance by any religion is undeniably scary. The issue has already shown to us that we also have fanatic people in the society that can kill and chop off noses for fictional characters or characters that are linked to the fictional folklore of their region, There will be lot of risk if filmmakers in future include topics that borrow from history. If we look at the west or any other place that showcases movies ; we will find that they honour movies that take up taboo subjects.

They accept the movie for its creativity and content, They never created any controversy relating to any subject so far. The CBFC had issued the certificate. There were no cuts needed by the film. The supreme court also agreed with CBFC.

Everyone that has been shown the movie is of the same opinion that the film in fact glorifies the rajput pride. The protesters had not even seen the film as the film had not even released. The entire debacle is based on assumptions.

We live in a democracy and our freedom of expression is often banned by conservative minds. Why is it that our mythology and folklore is so fickle that it gets spoiled by a small interpretation by a filmmaker.

People were out on streets to protect a convicted rapist Baba Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh Insaan. We were definitely a far more tolerant nation that allowed some fantastic parallel cinema gems to be released. The keepers of Indian culture would not have allowed TV series like Bharat Ek Khoj to release.

This TV series in 1988 has shown the history behind Allaudin Khilji and his quest for power and dominance. The offense we take is unwarranted. We have to take a neutral stand and see things from an outsider’s perspective sometimes. If we are biased and too attached to the subject matter we will always take an unfair stand. We need to step back and look at both sides of the coin. We need to make a choice of seeing or not seeing. We need to make a choice of eating or not eating.

We just cannot keep banning something we do not approve of. Banning anything will lead to the commodity being sold at a higher price in the black market.
People living in the states where Padmawati is banned will definitely watch it through pirated sources or at illegal screenings. It is human tendency to find the forbidden fruit as appealing.

We as a society need to become more reasonable to accept something / someone that does not have the same ideologies or preferences as we have. We have learn from the west about how they have given freedom to each citizen to explore their constitutional rights of freedom. We cannot kill another man for doing something they like.We have a choice to ignore.Every human being is equal. Even a beef eater has a family. He breathes the same air as us and drinks the same water.

It is never justified to kill another human being for any reason. We have to realize that the value of human life is above and beyond any ideology. All religions emphasise that we have to love our fellow human beings. That is the first basic rule of life. We have to behave like literate human beings and not savage beasts that chop off hands , legs and noses. We do not have to follow the people that are conservative and extremist. We have to follow people that believe in equality and love.