A recent college graduate on personal interactions and Bollywood films that have the potential to blur or solidify the great divide

By Aliya Itzkowitz  

This has been a difficult summer for the world. Terror attacks have created a climate of fear in which divisive rhetoric seems increasingly appealing. Whether in Donald Trump’s America or Pro-Brexit Britain, people seem to derive a sense of national pride by demonizing those that they seek to exclude. A sense of self is predicated on an indictment of the enemy, a rejection of ‘the other’. India and Pakistan have been practicing this sort of other-based nationalism since Partition. “Jai Hind” is as much a rejection of “Pakistan Zindabad” as it is a celebration of being Indian, and vice versa.

As a result, I was particularly moved when one of the strongest voices hitting back against Trump’s divisive agenda was a Pakistani-American, Khizr Khan. The father of a fallen soldier, Khan gave a stirring speech in which he declared, “We cannot solve our problems by building walls, sowing division. We are stronger together.”

Commonalities

Growing up as a half-Indian girl in London the interactions I witnessed had the capacity to either blur or solidify the India-Pakistan divide. At our local supermarket, my grandmother would often ask the person working the checkout line if they were Indian. “Kya aap Hindustan se hain?” (Are you from India?). Often, the response would be, “Nahin main Pakistan se hun.” (No, I’m from Pakistan).

My grandmother would usually then follow with the remark that it had all been one country when she was born. This would either be followed by a resigned shrug and awkward silence or, in some cases, a smile and further conversation. From a young age I noticed that this conversation consisted of one of two topics: cricket, or Bollywood.

Bollywood was that sacred space in which all South Asians came together– Hindu or Muslim, Indian or Pakistani it did not matter – these differences fell away. Years later, as a student at Harvard I noticed this phenomenon again. At the student activities fair the Harvard US-India Initiative, of which I was a member, had its own desk, separated from the Harvard Pakistan Forum by a variety of other clubs.

Ghungroo

Yet, once a year, at the South Asian dance show Ghungroo, which I participated in, students of Indian and Pakistani origin came together in a jubilant homage to Bollywood. Perhaps it was on one of these occasions, as a Pakistani friend spun me around to the tune of Om Shanti Om that I first had the idea for my Senior Thesis.

Most Harvard students do not write dissertations on Bollywood. Indeed, Bollywood is not typically associated with high-brow academia. Before I embarked on this project, like many people, I thought of Bollywood as a mere form of diversion – song and dance. However, as my experience with Indian cinema grew I realized that even the most popular of films can provide us with a lens into substantive societal issues.

In fact, it was precisely Bollywood’s mass appeal that drew me to it as a subject for investigation. There are almost two billion people living in South Asia today. A substantial proportion of this population watches Bollywood films, not to mention the millions living around the world who make up the South Asian diaspora. The potential influence of one film industry on such a large proportion of the world’s population is astounding.

In my thesis, I combined two seemingly disparate phenomena: Bollywood and Hindu-Muslim relations. I say ‘seemingly’ because, in reality, the two are intertwined. Bollywood as an entity is a Hindu-Muslim cultural hybrid – a cosmopolitan industry. Many of Bollywood’s leading actors, actresses and directors have Muslim names. This is inconsequential with regards to their appeal and fame. As Amartya Sen writes, “they are much adored by a population of which more than 80 percent happen to be Hindu” (Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny, 2006).

Love

For example, in my generation, the Muslim actor Shahrukh Khan is the undisputed “King of Bollywood.” Both on and off screen, Bollywood has a long tradition of interreligious love stories. Yet, I was most interested in films that detail the struggle for religious coexistence in South Asia on both a personal and group level. Due to the uniquely intertwined nature of religion and nation in South Asia, my thesis inevitably also became a discussion of relations between India and Pakistan.

Romantic films are a particularly apt lens for this issue. Falling in love makes one character stop seeing a person as a member of a particular religious community but rather as a beloved individual. A lover becomes a part of oneself and is, therefore, no longer an emblem of ‘the other.’ This transgressive love defies an atmosphere of communal conflict – critiquing it in an exceptionally poignant way.

As a result, for my thesis, I decided to focus on films that depict interreligious love such as Bombay (1995) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015).  In Bombay the love is romantic while in Bajrangi Bhaijaan it is familial. Both films contain examples of strong human connections. My aim was to show how this Bollywood subgenre of ‘Hindu-Muslim love stories’ effectively grapples with the issue of communal tension.

The films I chose for my thesis demonstrate the complexity of Hindu-Muslim relations. They are not pure works of fantasy. Instead, they are grounded in political reality. Bombay and Bajrangi Bhaijaan exemplify the ways in which Hindus and Muslims can be both lovers and enemies in South Asian Society. In fact, these films capture the spectrum of relationships between Hindus and Muslims – from neighbors to friends, colleagues to co-citizens. From my own experience, I can testify that living in India necessitates infinite interactions with people of different faiths. Hindus’ and Muslims’ lives are incredibly interwoven.

People face the same challenges and have the same aspirations. Despite right wing rhetoric, one group can never be reduced to simply ‘the other,’ or ‘the enemy’. At times, divisions between Hindus and Muslims are stark. At others, they all but disappear.

Bajrangi

The impact of a film like Bajrangi Bhaijaan lies in the fact that its message is believable, yet rarely found elsewhere. For the most part, the mainstream media tells a story that is more black and white. The most extreme voices are often the loudest and receive the most attention. As a character from the film, Chand Nawab says, “Hate is easy to sell, love less so.” Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a critique of this biased coverage.

I wrote about films created during my lifetime that engage with the political climate in which they were produced. Bombay is set during the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and the ensuing period of Hindu-Muslim violence. We witness the struggle of a young Hindu-Muslim couple Shekar and Shaila as they live through the Bombay riots. Meanwhile, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, released in 2015, is set against the backdrop of ongoing enmity between India and Pakistan. Pawan, an Indian, Hindu man embarks on a mission to return a lost young Muslim girl, Shahida, to her home in Pakistan.

In writing my thesis, I found that films teach us about society in a way that other media rarely can. My findings took me a hundred pages to explain so I will comment on one of many discoveries. This was the realization that different motivations can bring about cross-communal peace. This may sound self-evident but it took a close reading of the film Bajrangi Bhaijaan to make me believe it.

Malala

In Bajrangi Bhaijaan love transcends sectarian divisions. But, there are different motivations for this love. First, there is the secular perspective. This is the idea that people should be treated with respect, regardless of religion, because they are human. The common bond of humanity commands respect. This mentality resonates with the words of Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai. When Yousafzai shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Indian activist Kailash Satyarti she used it as a platform to advocate for improved India-Pakistan relations.

On accepting her award, Yousafzai said, “It is a message to people… of love between Pakistan and India and between different religions… It does not matter the colour of your skin, what language you speak, what religion you follow. It is that we should all consider each other as human beings and respect each other.”

However, Pawan, the hero of the film, is not motivated by this ‘secular’ idea of common humanity. Rather, his ethics come from a deeply religious place. Pawan is a Bajrang Bali Bhakt (Hanuman Devotee). His mission to return Shahida to her home has a religious significance for him. He has made a promise to God that he will return Shahida to her parents and he will stop at nothing to achieve this task.

In light of recent religious nationalist narratives, this might seem ironic. Extreme devotion often goes hand in hand with the view that one’s own religion is superior to all others. Yet, in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, an act of love for a Muslim girl is done in service of a Hindu God. Tolerance and piety are not mutually exclusive.

Mobilizing

My realizations, brought about by the films, demonstrate the potential of cinema to change attitudes. Indeed, both Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Bombay demonstrate the ability of a story to change attitudes in the wider public. The inter-faith relationships are not only transformative for the individuals involved. Rather, their stories of Hindu-Muslim unity have an effect on the broader community.

In Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Pawan’s mission, with the help of the Internet, sets in motion a mass movement. Hundreds of Indians and Pakistanis march to either side of the border in Kashmir to enable Pawan to cross safely from Pakistan into India. Likewise, in Bombay the main character, Shekhar, is able to convince rioters to stop their sectarian aggression. On his instruction, the mobs cast down their weapons. Hindus and Muslims stop attacking one another.

Both films demonstrate how one man’s story can mobilize a large portion of society, even causing a reform in attitude. Perhaps, the impact on the wider public in these films is indicative of their potential effect on their real-life audiences.

Earlier this year, Jawaharalal Nehru University student Kanhaiya Kumar rose to fame after he was arrested on charges of sedition. After he was released on bail Kumar gave a speech in which he commented on the disconnect between the language of academia and the public:

“We from JNU are refined and civilized in our speech, but we speak in heavy jargon which the common people of this country are unable to understand. It’s not their fault. They are honest, straightforward and perfectly capable of understanding. It is we who are unable to explain things to them at their level. In the end what reaches them?”

Bollywood cinema is one possible answer to Kumar’s question.

The writer adapted this article for Aman ki Asha based on her senior thesis “Conflict, Coexistence And Love: Bollywood Cinema And Hindu-Muslim Relations” at Harvard University, 2016. Email: [email protected]