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.
— 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:
- 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?
- Why is writer-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra trying to whitewash the history of Kashmiri Pandits in India?
- Lastly, aren’t such scenes implying that Sanatan Dharma is less than the other proselytizing faiths?
- 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.
I watch how Bollywood engages with and represents Hindu society. A non-Marxist film critic writing in English.
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