By Gokul Krishnamoorthy
What exactly is propaganda? Does cinema need to steer clear of propaganda? Should a political statement be disallowed in entertainment? If you can answer any of those with a clear mind and conscience, you are still capable of thinking without a bias.
Rewind to the days of former Chief Ministers in some of the South Indian states. They were reel life heroes whose personas transcended the screen and helped them ascend to seats of power. Movies still make political statements — left, right and centre. They have, all along. Where should one draw the line?
Distortion of facts is a crime and should not be allowed. When the claim of ‘32,000’ was made in the trailer of ‘The Kerala Story’, it was contested as it should have been. But subsequent protests gave the movie the popularity it so badly needed. Removal of that reference happened, and rightly so, but it did create the buzz that is critical to box office survival even on the opening weekend. Whom did the movie address and who benefited from the protests?
We are well past the ‘With us or against us’ milestone as a society. WhatsApp groups are proof. Those in the middle are in danger of being ignored and worse still, branded as elitist or spineless. But we need more people in the middle for the right to be seen as the right and left as left. They need to stand their ground and not reduce the conversation on cinema to one or two films, reduce perspectives to ‘this or that’. Cinema too needs a left, right and centre.
The larger picture is important. Brands need to be able to take a stand. Filmmakers need to be able to take a stand. By no means am I suggesting that one can be allowed to hurt sentiments of any kind, be disparaging a community or region or language, or do anything that goes against the law of the land.
Imagine what we might have lost if a Vetrimaran’s Visaranai had been denied the right to be seen. Or hundreds of movies that did shine a spotlight on something some, including those in the establishment, may not have wanted audiences to see?
I have not seen ‘The Kerala Story’ and don’t intend to. But going by reviewers I do not distrust, it is an unapologetic propaganda vehicle that lost the opportunity to build its own agenda by being blatant. It will galvanise the already entrenched beliefs and perceptions about a particular community, but not sway those who still believe that this nation is for everyone and that every faith has its share of opportunists. The noise around the movie must help some at the time of state elections. Let’s brace for more inevitable noise in the months ahead.
In the meantime, let us allow cinema to be. Let us allow art to be. And allow that art to have a point of view. A few outraged should not be allowed to ruin the show in protest mode. What are courts and certifications for? Art is expression. Freedom of expression is ingrained in freedom of the arts.
We have witnessed innumerable protests that sought to ban one movie or the other, on one pretext or another. That must end. West Bengal banning this movie was wrong; perhaps it can be justified if law and order had been a casualty. But I would still say it’s the state’s job to ensure that a movie that has been allowed to release has its run.
In this context, God’s own country, whose reputation was at stake given the contrast with the state’s reality the film supposedly portrayed, showed the way. Refusing the course of a ban, the government urged people to stay away from the film.
Above is the Kerala story I would like to believe in.
But I will fight for the right of the people on the right to make a propaganda vehicle like ‘The Kerala Story’ and let their followers watch it too.
Even if there wasn’t a single woman from XYZ who joined the ISIS, a creator should still be allowed to tell a fictional account of a character who did. To claim that to be fact is an attempt to rewrite the history of the future, which must be stopped through working regulation, not protests. When regulations fail, protests are inevitable. But it aids the maker’s agenda more often than not.
Some state banning a film for its agenda and the opposing political dispensation giving it tax breaks in states they rule are dangerous precedents for creativity and freedom of expression. Sane voices like Shabana Azmi’s are getting shouted down. Let us not let cinema go down the paid social media black hole.
The discerning audience can tell the difference between propaganda and reality, unless it’s made with a great degree of finesse. Let cinema be the flexible canvas that lends itself to anyone and everyone. If good storytellers can believably drive an agenda within permissible limits, so be it.
Also because sometimes, fighting against it serves the agenda of the makers. In more ways than one.
(The author is an independent brand consultant, columnist and Co-founder and Group Consulting Editor, Uplift Medianews4u. Views are personal.)