Sometimes blogging lands you up in funny places. SM’s own Abhi and Patrix from Desipundit were recently quoted in an excellent San Francisco Chronicle regarding the new Indian comic books. A mystery man named “Ennis Singh Mutinywale” was quoted all over the place after dropping this bombshell. Manish Vij had, as mentioned earlier, a quality piece in Salon after the Mumbai blasts. And a number of bloggers (naturally) were quoted in mainstream media coverage of the Indian blog ban — not surprising since several prominent desi bloggers are also professional journalists.
Today it was my turn, albeit in a smaller way — the Times of London called for a comment on Sonia Gandhi’s attempt to suppress Jag Mundhra’s planned biopic about her (starring Monica “Mary Magdalene” Belluci as the young Sonia Gandhi). I blogged about it two months ago, and somehow that turned into this:
Despite priding itself on a constitution that guarantees freedom of expression, India has a history of censorship. It was the first country to ban Salman RushdieÂ’s The Satanic Verses and the Central Board of Film Certification regularly uses the fear of civil unrest between its Hindu and Muslim communities to demand cuts from directors or to keep certain films out of cinemas. Only yesterday, a ban was lifted on 17 websites that ministers claimed were fanning religious hatred after the bomb blasts in Bombay on July 11.
Amardeep Singh, assistant professor of English at Lehigh University, in Pennsylvania, was not surprised by Mrs GandhiÂ’s attempts to stop the film. “There is a knee-jerk censoriousness in Indian politics and it is a sad reaction to try to suppress the film before it has even been produced,” he said. “It is meant to be a respectful biopic, but I think theyÂ’re just nervous because the director has a reputation for the unsavoury.” (link)
Admittedly, that last statement was pure speculation on my part (one always wishes the reporter quoted the other thing you said…). But this censorship problem is, as Dilip D’Souza has ably argued, a systemic problem we need to be continually vigilant about. India would be a better place if the default were to allow people to have their say rather than block, ban, and censor. (And it’s not just a Congress Party thing; the BJP were no slouches when it came to censoring views they weren’t happy about.)
Sadly, the filmmakers here have apparently decided to shelve the film rather than insist on their right to make it.
Too bad that such events might be considered normal by [most] Indians. “Censorship is fine as long as it doesn’t affect us directly”, is the common sentiment. Typical NIMBY behavior.
The bigger picture is lost amongst paranoia which for all you know is totally unfounded. The guy may have made a decent biopic which might have even added to the halo that Mrs. Gandhi has created for herself, thanks to her sycophants.
BTW it wasn’t DesiPundit that was cited in the SFGate article. It was me; thanks to a review I did for Virgin Comics on my personal blog. DesiPundit is a site – a group identity – and I am a contributor and administrator.
It’s true — it could well have been a very respectful film…
Sorry about the link. It’s been corrected.
Censorship is always bullshit and especially in this case because the only feelings likely to be hurt by this movie are Sonia’s (and maybe her cronies’) but I would suggest that a prerequisite for eradicating censorship in India is to make sure that various groups – be it the Shiv Sena, Gujjus against Amir or Christians against Da-vinci – are not allowed to threaten or attack theatre owners, writers and thinkers. Censorship by the govt. is justified as a counterbalance for censorship by violence and we should remove the justification first.
Knowing Mr. Mundhra however, there’s no way he is going to let the Congress cronies stop him. This has only increased the probability of there being Monsoon like scenes in the movie. I for one welcome this new possibility 😛
That’s not true. There is no society in which censorship does not exist. What we find troubling is an excess of it, what Amardeep calls “knee-jerk censoriousness.”
Without censors, there would be hardcore on the after-school special, and even the best newspapers would be overrun by Nazi nutters.
“The guy may have made a decent biopic which might have even added to the halo that Mrs. Gandhi has created for herself, thanks to her sycophants.”
while i don’t condone censorship, this might turn out to be one of this lame congress government’s most inspired policies. the cult of sonia gandhi is already weird and dangerous enough.:)
“(And it’s not just a Congress Party thing; the BJP were no slouches when it came to censoring views they weren’t happy about.)”
I think the sentence would read better if it was stated thus: And it’s not just a BJP thing; the Congress Party were no slouches when it came to censoring views they weren’t happy about.
Ofcourse it would not make sense for this post but generally Congress is thought of as a progressive party in the English media – In India and abroad (except perhaps for The Pioneer newspaper) whereas BJP is said to have all the qualities which are inmical to a democratic state. It is strange that you had to insert BJP’s name even here when the post is about Sonia. Maybe you did it subconsciously. If some of the American bloggers stayed in hinterland of India, they would know that this secular/communal debate has reached to state of utter rubbishness. Each party now simply targets a religious or cast votebank – and this includes the left. Case in point – a CPI(M) leader while addressing a Muslim organization suspects Shiv Sena’s hand in the blast.
From Hindustan Times (7/19): Senior CPI(M) leader on Wednesday suggested a probe to ascertain if Mumbai train blasts were set off by Hindu fundamentalists as BJP and Shiv Sena were fast losing their base in Maharashtra. “There is a need to probe this angle,” CPI(M) politburo member and West Bengal’s ruling Left Front chairman Biman Bose said in Kolkata.
Maybe this post does not belong here. My main point is that no Indian political party is unscathed when it comes to taking retrograde actions in context of a progressive democratic state. The fact that Congress is censoring something is not really news. They have been in power for about 45 of the 55 years since the British left and most undemocratic actions have been taken by them including the Emergency.
That was my point too. I only inserted the BJP to provide balance.
No, it’s not new. But I think as Indian values have changed in the last 10-15 years, we’ve seen a growing gap between ordinary people’s standards and the government’s standards for freedom of expression. Most of the media landscape is now pretty open, so when you see these eruptions of censorship it does seem like “news.”
Amardeep: Your general point is well taken but there is no need to provide balance as one is not needed in this story. If a BJP leader is involved in a communal activity, would you provide balance and say well back in so & so year, Congress was involved in the said activity – just to provide balance? BJP has its set of issues but in this blog entry you have needlessly mentioned them. Most people who are SM blog-literate would know that BJP has had numerous issues when it comes to limiting speech. If you wanted to provide balance, you could have mentioned a more recent ban on Da Vinci Code in various states by so called progressive forces.
I think your intent was good. All i am saying is that there is no need to have a knee jerk tendency to include BJP in every story.
As a note, i think India is not ready for unlimited free speech, especially when political parties use these for their own purposes to cause mayhem. E.g. Danish Cartoons and MF Hussein paitings. I guess we have to live with banning these type of speeches untill both the left and the right can come to an understanding that no speech should be censored regardless of the hurt it causes to a section of people. Ain’t happening anytime soon.
NEWBIE: The fact that Congress is censoring something is not really news. They have been in power for about 45 of the 55 years since the British left and most undemocratic actions have been taken by them including the Emergency.
I couldn’t have said it better than that. Thanks. Personally, they must take the prize for the most corrupt party in India’s brief history. Though the competition is fierce.
I’d love to go and see for myself how much things have changed. Of course this change mainly applies to roughly half or less than half the population.
Congress has a habit of banning and trying to control stuff, they are worse than BJP.
Jag Mundhra is most famous for his sleazy smut films. I have seen numerous flicks directed by him and produced by Anand Amritraj that were raunchy and meant for the late nite skin-a-max and European cable audiences. Naturally, I was a big fan of his in my teenage years. He is one of the greatest exports out of IIT Madras.
I am baffled that with these credentials, he is making a biopic of Sonia! What is he going to depict – the privileged grandson of India’s first and most famous prime minster being seduced by an average looking au pair in England? No wonder Sonia recoiled. In many ways it was fitting that a B-grade soft porn director decided to cast the biopic of a B-grade uneducated Italian au pair. Alas, it is being banned.
As a side-note, Amardeep, I read your quote in Friday’s “The Times” newspaper here in the UK regarding Sonia pulling the plug on the biopic. Congratulations on getting referenced in such a prestigious British newspaper — very proud of you 😉
I think people who are respectable should get their bit in the Movies. Sonia and Mundhra both are resepctable in their fieldsd but the problem lies with the girl he chose to do the role of Sonia in the movie. She has avery different kind of background an dmay be Congress is apprehensive about her tainted background bouncing on movie by Mundhra. May be Mundhra talks top Congress and then decided about the movie and i feel he will get the permission to make it, with Congress Support.
Best of Luck to Jag mohan Mundhra for the Movie.