Keeping governments happy is not an easy task. Ask Aamir Khan who is probably still wondering why his innocuous “slip of tongue” robbed him off the Incredible India campaign. Sure, governments have the right to choose whosoever they like, yet the response from the believer in “Satyamev Jayate” has been pretty timid though not surprising. Over the last several decades, film folks have generally shied from calling a spade a spade and it seems Aamir has taken a leaf out of his successor’s book who has never spoken a politically incorrect word on any occasion. In fact, most contend Amitabh Bachchan, besides vocal inflections, could teach lessons of tact and communication to the best of diplomats.
The meek surrender to the government’s diktat seems a legacy of the past. Rewind and we find, despite projecting macho images and brawny physiques on screen, not many of our film personalities have stood up against the might of the Indian government. Come what may, from communal conflagrations to rising prices or entertainment taxes to state honours, film folks generally shy away from expressing an honest opinion. While part of the pusillanimity could be attributed to their fear of the tax authorities but majorly, it is borne out of their desire to remain in the good books of the authority. Why even in the recent chaos about the selection of Gajendra Chauhan as Chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India, most well-known stalwarts kept their mouth tightly shut just as most of them have turned a blind eye to irrational doling out of national honours or positions at censor board, NFDC or CFS.
While you can understand the reluctance of the glamour brigade from commentating on social or political problems, what is inexplicable is their “eyes shut” attitude to matters affecting their own filmdom. There has been a long list of film personalities in India from Amitabh to Vinod Khanna, Jaya Prada to Govinda, Rajesh Khanna to Raj Babbar and Hema Malini to Rakhi Sawant donning a political cap, yet we have hardly seen any of them making a major dent in the political spectrum for the benefit of the film industry. Why even the likes of Sunil Dutt, Jayalalithaa and N. T. Rama Rao, with long stints in the political arena, are hardly remembered for any substantial contribution to improvement of the national film industry. The filthy environments and the abominable service conditions in the major studios around the country is too well known but hardly anyone has had the courage of convictions to fight and stand up for justice.
In a casual chat sometime back, original rebel Mahesh Bhatt attributed the stars’ indifference to social happenings as a collective amnesia of comfort. “Most acquiesce with incongruities of the regimes in power as they are usually currying for favour,” he says. Quite true as none from Lata Mangeshkar, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Mithun Chakravarthy, Vyjantimala or Rekha ever voiced their objections even inside legislative chambers, where poet Javed Akhtar remains a worthy exception with his relentless fight for copyright laws.
But it isn’t as if the film clan is devoid of actual heroes. Famous Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto has recounted how Ashok Kumar saved him during the pre-partition communal violence, giving a verbal lashing to the rioters. In the emergency era when most cowered before Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray refused a government documentary as a protest in spite of her personal request just as Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Uttam Kumar and Sandhya Roy too openly denounced the usurping of constitutional powers.
In Bollywood, Dev Anand took up the fight against the emergency along with his brothers Chetan and Vijay as well as the likes of Pran, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Raaj Kumar, V. Shantaram and Shatrughan Sinha. He even formed a National Party to fight the elections but had to abandon the idea when he found out that most of his fraternity was spineless to fight against the regime. However, the strongest act of defiance came from the genial Mohammed Rafi who took up the cudgels on behalf of Kishore Kumar when his songs were banned by All India Radio on Sanjay Gandhi’s orders because of Kishore’s refusal to attend a Delhi function. In an interview, Manna Dey had revealed that Indira Gandhi was left stunned and speechless when “Rafi even questioned how he (Sanjay) being Nehru’s grandson could indulge in such a (despicable) act”. No wonder the ban was lifted within a few days and why Kishore always had a high regard for Rafi Sahab!
Mahesh Bhatt puts it succinctly that “film folks will always remain silent puppets as long as they hunger for government awards and doles”. Perhaps, like school children, film folks need to learn that speaking truth is always the best policy in life.
