In this world of media-moguls, media hegemony and conglomerates, our perception is not formed only due to our personal experiences, but print and audio media including cinema plays an important role in forming our opinions. The messages shown in movies leave an imprint in the minds of viewers. Movies can either develop or distort the opinions of an individual which depends on how strong and sensitive the message is. Indian Film industry is one of the most pivotal industries in world as it produces large number of films every year. Soon after independence, Indian film industry was dominated by Muslim directors, actors and writers and discrimination was slightly visible, but over the last few years, the prejudice has deepened as entertainment industry is being used to satisfy political gains.
Indian cinema has very myopic vision about Muslim attire, Kohl rimmed eyes, taweez around neck, skull-cap, Pathan suit, tasbeeh in hands, rebellion in eyes and hatred filled heart, that’s how they portray majority of the Indian Muslims. What irks the Muslim audience more is repeatedly using Muslim names like Dawood bhai, Moosa bhai, Gani bhai, buraaq and Ibraheem to portray villains. Movies like Fanaa, Sarfarosh, Qayamat, Qurbaan and Agent Vinod all have Muslim antagonists. In Fanaa, Amir Khan plays a terrorist called Rehan who is only concerned with killings and devastation hurting whoever comes in his way. In Qurban, Saif Ali Khan played a terrorist namely Ehsaan Khan planning to attack US. It is funny how Bollywood gets all these Muslim actors to play anti-Muslim character, money!
Bollywood is hell-bent portraying and pigeonholing Muslims as terrorists, bombers, qawaals or gangsters. Bollywood is good at distorting historical facts also; remember how grotesquely it portrayed Allaudin Khilji in Padmaavat. He is reduced to a gory figure, a womaniser, an evil creature devoid of any feelings or emotions. Year 2019 was a year of propaganda movies; one of the few was Kesari, which means saffron, the movie was based on Battle of Saragarhi fought by Sikhs against tribesmen from Afghanistan, again the movie portrayed Sikhs as patriots and Muslims as fanatic Jihadis totally ignoring the concept of colonial oppression. Commando 3 also played its major part in portraying Muslims as terrorists and fascists. I was aghast over the film makers for using the name ALLAH in a way it should never have been, how can censor board be so insensitive towards the feelings of Muslims, they cannot make trash and come out with huge TRP completely ignoring the sensitivities of Muslim population as a whole. War, a huge grosser of the year also portrayed Muslims in negative light; creative juices of Indian film makers are hell-bent on producing something that will distort the image of Islam and Muslims throughout the world. Indian cinema needs to recognise the fact that extremists can exist in any community but targeting Muslims or Islam is undoubtedly a misplaced assumption. Bollywood should alter its views about Muslims because they are the largest minority in India. Some other movies that portray Muslims in bad light are wanted, Baby, Kalank, gangs of wasseypur, gaddar, Mission Kashmir, Jaal, Indian, Border, Gang and Zameen. There are others also because Indian cinema is replete with movies where antagonists are Muslims and war mongers. Bollywood has further amplified the stereotypes, deepened Islamophobia and created disgust among viewers and hatred against Muslims. If Bollywood does not stop and reconsider, it risks not only losing whatever creative independence it has so far enjoyed, but also going down in history as an industry that displayed cowardice in supporting a destructive ideology.
Author is an author of two books and is working as a research scholar in BGSBU Rajouri
Email:----azramufti786@gmail.com