By Col Sudhir Rana (Retd)
The recent release of a spy cum action thriller from so called Bollywood is creating a huge buzz in the market. It has brought out immense reactions both negative and positive from the public, politicians, critics and even countries. While Gulf countries and Pakistan have banned this movie from screening, the common people are watching it in great numbers all over the world.
Actual events of our recent history are cleverly woven into the narrative which keeps viewers glued to the screen for about 4 hours. It narrates the story without clichés and unfiltered dialogues. It has shaken the past scaffolds of appeasement and eulogising of a particular cult, glorification and justification of organised crime prevalent in typical Bollywood flicks. This has shaken the foundation of Sicily type mafia and opened a gate for competent directors and good story tellers in that space.
The criminals, leftists and corrupt politicians are crying themselves hoarse, abusing the film makers and the present government like those bereft. This is due to the fact that their carefully built narrative over decades has been shattered by a single film.
Let us not forget that Hollywood was also a part of a propaganda machine which projected America as the great Superman given the responsibility to save the Earth. If the present government is also using the media for confidence and nation building, so be it.
Let there be hundreds of “Dhurandars” in future.
