A scene from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela.
There have been quite a few things on our ban-worthy lists in the recent past — some reasonable, some not so reasonable and yet others so not reasonable. Here’s a quick round-up:
- Lack of sense and sensibility w.r.t. cinema: A certain Kailash Chandra has his dhoti in a twist thanks to the obscenity and violence in Sanjay Leela’s Bhansali’s Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram Leela that hurts Hindu sentiments. Only time will tell what comes out of the court case filed against this epitome of the loud and colourful… literally and otherwise. Till then, if your eyes, ears and brain are feeling courageous enough to stomach a bundle of excesses packed into 150 minutes, go measure the sense and sensibility quotient in this Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh-starrer. And hope that someone books Bhansali for torture instead.
- Lack of tolerance towards minorities: Got Rs.3 crore? Would you like to buy a flat in Dadar, the heart of Mumbai? Fully furnished, with features such as cross ventilation, lots of natural light and a parking spot to boot? One last question: Are you a Muslim? Uh oh. It’s no entry for you then. Real estate website 99acres.com had the gall to publish an ad by Jacintha Estates mentioning all of the above but soon took it off following public outrage over the open secret about communal prejudice being spelt out. The saving grace — this attempt at damage control.
- Lack of political judgment: Even as Indians continue to make their mark on a national and international level thanks to the proficiency in English, Samajwadi party head Mulayam Singh Yadav wants to keep the lingua franca out of Parliament “because the need of the hour is to promote Hindi”. No surprise that the opposition protested against it (and thankfully so)… insisting that the demand was “disturbing” and that “Hindi should be learnt by everyone, but not by eliminating English”. Little wonder then that scientist and Bharat Ratna-awardee CNR Rao recently called politicians idiots.
- Lack of parenting skills to turn boys into good men: Do the boys (and men) in your family get preferential treatment? Even if that’s the case because your elders don’t realise it or don’t think it’s a big deal? If the situation in this painfully regressive Mother’s Dairy ad seems familiar, it’s probably time to rethink why our good boys grow up to be not-so-good men. To quote London-based writer-journalist Sunny Hundal, who will give a talk in Pune during the coming week, “The casual harassment (called ‘eve teasing’) that women in India have to bear is unheard of in most countries in the world. Why is there so much disrespect towards women? Upbringing is a major part of this problem.”
- Lack of a set-up to rent a man: With all the aforementioned bad boys and a few good men that apparently exist, where is the middle path? The average boy-next-door that single women can rent (yes, that’s right; just like the Chinese)… just to pacify eagerly-waiting mommy, daddy, grandpa(s), grandma(s) and the whole extended family about your readiness to “settle down”. Guess we’re too obsessed with matrimony and matrimonial websites for that to happen anytime soon. Till then, interested candidates can email their CVs to jayakumar.archana@gmail.com.
Image courtesy: Film poster
The opinions expressed are those of the writer/columnist and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of this website.
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