PremiumArticle 370 - Is a convenient replica of the real world sold as fiction the ‘new normal’?
Article 370 has its merit but does the politics of the movie let it be an unbiased piece of art? No.
Last Updated: 10.30 PM, Feb 24, 2024
Cinema, used as a tool to reach audiences and educate them about something they would probably not learn about otherwise, is a very good use of a medium that grabs eyeballs. The chances of better attendance are higher than any course one offers to the masses. But when a group of powerful people persistently tries to sell an ideology to these viewers with simply a disclaimer that says ‘this is a work of fiction inspired by true events,’ who are we exactly fooling? Ourselves, the audience, or the ones in power? Article 370 right now stands on the doorsteps of this conversation.
The pool of films that run towards ideologies and try to disguise themselves under the garb of unbiased commentary on our times is deep, and if you dare to throw a pebble at it, there are mosquitoes ready to attack you at any given point. That’s how social media works, I guess. Article 370 is another addition that, on the face of it, is a very decent movie that manages to bring thrills. But credit to the writers and director to have an understanding where the pro-government agenda is hidden neatly below the good layer that doesn’t make it shine but also makes sure that the viewer is shown the ideology enough.
There are filmmakers otherwise too who put the layer of their agenda on top and the rest is below it. We saw two of these films in the last two years, and they earned well. The ego massage that they give to a viewer who aligns with their thought is big. The way these films subtly (sometimes openly) instigate people to attack each other is haunting. But between all of this, one fundamental thing that these viewers tend to ignore is the filmmakers calling all of these things ‘fictional.’ Their research is never made public, and the numbers they flash in bold on the 70 MM are never cross-checked.
But the harm they make is massive. Particularly for Article 370, it of course doesn’t motivate anyone to go fight with anyone directly, but what it does is make one man the God like he has no greys to him. No one’s questioning the mistakes of a government, and everything about them is pristine. Even their clothes have no loose thread in the world, forget their characters. Okay, it’s your ‘fictional’ world, but why do people look like the ones who are a part of the real world? Why do not date to name them? Well, that is a conversation we will have to have with a list of filmmakers who have embraced creative liberties and misunderstood it for convenience.
If you don’t want your film to be called propaganda, what explains the fact that the said leader is promoting your movie in rallies like he has some gains from it? Anubhav Sinha also released a film called Bheed a year ago. Though I have my opinion about it, it was about a very potent subject and phase we have all as a country gone through. Why was it not promoted by the man? Bheed is just an example. The idea of only promoting films that make him the God and then the ones making those films trying to prove the film is not pro-someone with an agenda is getting funnier by the day.
Of course, make good agenda movies and we are here to watch them, but the ones who are not reading disclaimers need to be informed that the makers have called it fiction and that you are not supposed to look at this as the truth of your times. Don’t connect any dots. Rather don’t take anything from it home and think about it. As an informed audience, we must educate each other and let the world understand the game that is being played. If not anything, we might have some hope for the better world.
And for the ones who feel that there is no wrong in leaders backing these films in any capacity, there are advertisements and documentaries for that. Let cinema be cinema and not a machine to instigate hate.