Don’t just blame Bollywood. We are also at fault for the content we consume

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“Sirf sat suroon mei itni kabiliyat kaha ki aisi nafrat ka samna kar kake (How can seven musical notes have the strength to resist such hatred)”: the way Naseeruddin Shah expresses his emotions with this statement is moving. Nandita Das’ debut film Firaaq (2008) opens up a plethora of facts and truths to audiences. Stories of endemic killings during the 2002 communal riots leave the public disturbed and full of questions.

At first, I thought about writing a movie review, but my conscience wouldn’t allow it. People often ignore these articles and judge the book by its cover. Is there a specific reason why I chose this movie? Not at all. This is not about the film, there is a more important point to be made here.

Also Read: Bollywood Still Has Miles To Go Before It Can Produce Kaala, Asuran, Karnan Or Even A Jai Bhim

We often blame Bollywood for bringing us a plateau of disappointments in the name of “filmy content” and prefer to watch Hollywood masala films. This is good because I recognize that Hollywood films have great production value, are original and engage audiences. But that doesn’t mean Bollywood doesn’t produce its own gemstones. We have stopped looking for the best. Ma maa always asserts that “dhundne par to bhagwan-ji bhi mil jate hai” (if you search for it, you can even find god). But the burden of research can be real and we as the public, and especially Indians, are too lazy to do so. So the fault lies with the TV channels which are popular showing the same movie two or even three times a week. God knows how many times I have seen the same Thakur Bhanu Pratap (Amitabh Bachchan) vomiting blood after poisoning the kheer. We are the ones who are served with old malicious content, but we continue to swallow it up.

Firaaq is not the only film that deserves to be appreciated. There are many, for example, Naseeruddin Shah, star of Encounter Killing (2002), who may not have a very good setup or top actors, but still deliver a very strong message. Bollywood has not lost its charm of making entertaining films, but we have lost our taste in consuming malicious content. Such films are available on OTT platforms (where I found them). But not everyone can afford the subscription.

We, as the public, are always kept on the sidelines. Access to quality, engaging content that helps us unlearn things to make room for new ideas is far from reality. We are conditioned to the regime of ignorance that continues to dominate our unstable minds. Our brains are left to rot with less controversial cinema. We might like to criticize Bollywood but aren’t we also the ones who move away from creative films like Firaaq? Are we not the culprits? Are we not ignorant? Don’t we need to change for good?

Also Read: 5 Bollywood Movies That Shouldn’t Have Been Shot This Decade

Yash Annadate is a student at Ashoka University. Opinions are personal.

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