There are two type of people. First who have a
brain and can discern fact from fiction. The second who are stuck in fifth
grade, forever, and need constant assistance to identify truth from fiction. The
people in second category are also the ones who would jump with joy when they
see or do things they love. Show them something uncomfortable and they start
whining and throw their toys out of their prams. There is little hope that these
people would ever grow up.
The current debate around Kabeer Singh is in
fact a debate between these two sets of people. There are people who went and
watched the movie for what it is, a fiction meant for entertainment. Then there
were people who went to watch it and got pissed off because, toxic masculinity,
misogyny and other such things. What these people forget is that cinema like painting,
sculpting & writing is an art. No one can dictate a painter on what they
can paint or not paint. A sculptor can carve what they want to carve. Similarly
a director can make a movie, the way they find it right. It is their artistic freedom.
People who are pissed off at the violence and
misogyny in Kabeer Singh should understand that the director chose to depict a
character. A character who is violent and misogynist. The director has no moral
obligation to create a character that is nice and likable. The director is not
in the business of sending out moral messages to the public. The director is an
artist and they do their job the way they want to. One might not like it, but
that is a totally different case. We all have our preferences when it comes to
cinema or for that matter any other art form.
In the past we have seen people getting pissed
off at art projects, be it M. F. Hussain’s Saraswati, or Rajamauli’s Bahubali
and now Kabeer Singh. Some section of the society always gets unhappy with what
an artist produces. This kind of, ‘I am so angry’, ‘this is not what should be
promoted’ statements are becoming very common these days. As if their happiness
or anger matters to anyone. Be angry and unhappy all you want. But spare the
director and their art.
The problem with self-appointed nationalist
bhakts and feminists have one thing in common. They can’t stand a counter view.
They are in fact so far apart, that they converge and become one. Like two
sides of the same coin. Their selective outrage is nothing but blatant hypocrisy,
which they, miraculously, fail to see. If one wants to outrage because a film
is ‘promoting’ or ‘justifying’ violence, misogyny or toxic whatever, then they
should outrage for Haider, Raees, Sanju, and all those gangster movies. Because
these movies glorify violence and organized crime. They should also outrage on
objectification of women and men in cinema. But no, these are the same people
who would happily gyrate on ‘Chikni Chameli…’ and then sit down to discuss how
women are being objectified in Bollywood.
So dear ladies and gentlemen, grow up, learn
and start behaving like adults.
