Justice Markandey Katju–
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)
These days there is a lot of controversy in India on the social media about the Hindi film Adipurush, some saying it is an insult to Lord Ram, Hanumanji, the Ramayan, and Hinduism. You can see some reactions here, here, here, here, here, and here.
I have not seen the film. In fact, I have not seen a film for about 40 years (except a very few on YouTube). But I have seen its trailer and some scenes on YouTube.
I have no objection to the words: “Tel tere baap ka, aag tere baap ki, aur jalega tere baap ki.”
My objection is much more fundamental. Why make a film on a Hindu epic in today’s polarized atmosphere, when what is needed is unity, and a powerful united struggle people’s struggle to combat the evils of massive and widespread poverty, unemployment, malnourishment, lack of healthcare and good education, etc to create a political and social order which abolishes these evils and gives people decent lives?
What is needed in India today is not religious films, but films that help and inspire the people in this struggle.
A good example is ‘Battleship Potemkin‘ by Sergei Eisenstein, which inspired the Russian people.
Other such examples are films like ‘Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom’ on the life of Nelson Mandela and his fight against apartheid in South Africa; ‘The Patriot’, about the American War of Independence; ‘Birth of a Nation’, which is about Nat Turner’s revolt against slavery in America; ‘Spartacus’, on the revolt of slaves in ancient Rome, led by a gladiator; ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’, about a white American lawyer standing up for a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl; ‘Grapes of Wrath’, which is about the travails of a farmer’s family that had to migrate from Oklahoma during the Great Depression; ‘Mulk’, which is about the oppression of a Muslim family in the communally charged atmosphere in India, etc.
Raj Kapoor, Satyajit Ray, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, etc, made films on social themes critical of social evils. We need films of those kinds.
Instead, we are getting films with religious themes on Hindu epics like Adi Purush, or historical themes like Padmaavat and Samrat Prithviraj, which may earn a lot of money, but do not have any social relevance, and do not help the people in their struggle for a better life.
This is my objection to Adi Purush, not what others say.
