Wazir (2016)

Film: Wazir

Year of Release: 2016

Director: Bejoy Nambiar

Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Lead Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar

Bollywood regularly plugs this idea into films that Hindu protagonists stuck in complex problems often find direction inside a mosque. Be it, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Lost or this scene from Wazir where a Kashmiri Pandit father finds solace and clarity following the death of his daughter.

pic.twitter.com/q1mgx6O7a6 — Gems of Bollywood Fan (@FilmyKhichdii) March 6, 2023

Before someone locks horns with us, asking why a character can’t find purpose in a place of worship other than his own, please let us know answers to the following:

1. Do you recall any scene from any Bollywood film in the last 100 years where a non-Hindu character surrendered to the aura of a Shiv Mandir after going through a major event? Why not?
2. Why is writer-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra trying to whitewash the history of Kashmiri Pandits in India?
3. Lastly, aren’t such scenes implying that Sanatan Dharma is less than the other proselytizing faiths?
4. Why deliberately give a religious identity to a character and then send him to a different place of worship?

Till you find the answer, we will continue to call out this lop-sided religious acceptance that Bollywood wallahs have been pushing for decades. This sly messaging that Hindu Mandirs are not powerful enough IS NOT OKAY.