PK – The fight of Freedom of Expression
With release of PK and the ongoing fight before its release,
a very important question again comes into limelight: How far can we go against
religious sentiments of mass? How the fight between the groups involved is more
of a fight of Freedom of Expression?
Every religion has got polluted with superstitions and
illogical rituals over time. Some of these can be explained with some
scientific reasoning. And the film digs into these rituals and superstitions
spread by the “managers” of different religions. Its indirectly opposes the
waste of resources and our time involved in these rituals.
Many movies have been made with this idea over years. While
ideologically PK is an addition to the list its very different than most. It’s
first movie in which the lead character actually believes in God. He is
innocent in this matter and till end he thinks God exists and the priests of
different religions can interact with Him.
It’s ironical for lead character of a movie of this genre he
firmly believes that praying (whether in temple, mosque or church) will
actually get his wishes fulfilled. He believes the god men can talk with God and
get solutions for people’s problems. The lead characters of all other movies of
this genre always were against God or had partial belief in God.
Also it’s ironical that the followers of each religion
actually have lesser belief in God than our PK. His belief is absolute and
pure. This way the movie shows we humans actually know in our subconscious that
God won’t actually come to help us. As beautifully put in by the “villain” in
the last: God is the figure that gives us hope and strength in our worst times.
Without God, our lives will be much tougher and worse. Festivals add color to our
lives. The idea that someone (God) is there to help us in our needs gives us
hope and strength to overcome hurdles in life. Based on my personal experiences
I totally agree to this. The idea of a new dawn, light at end of tunnel surely
gives us strength to go through our worst times. If nothing, God surely makes
our life merrier and helps us reduce suicide rate.
The movie very beautifully portrays both sides of the thin line
of religion. Religion is a very sentimental topic and the only religion can
make even most educated people behave non-rational. The idea of attack on our
religion makes most of us violent. The movie, according to me, didn’t cross the
line where it would offend me. It’s within the limit of Freedom of Expression of
the writers and director. In fact I would recommend people to watch it and
understand the depth of the ideology.
Also at same time, I am not against certain section of people
protesting against it. Maybe they are offended by what’s shown in the movie and
surely they also have right of much praised Freedom of Expression. They should
be allowed to register their unhappiness and objections in a proper way.
Fellow Hindus protesting against PK for showing the main “villain”
as a Hindu guru and more of Hindu rituals in the movie should understand the
reasons behind it. India is a Hindu majority country, so it’s obvious to show
more of Hindu culture and rituals in the movie. If the movie was made in
Hollywood, church would be the primary “temple of worship”. Gurus would have
been replaced by a priests or father. It’s the way the story tries to relate to
the mass audiences and should not be taken explicit attacks on our Hindu
culture and customs.
I would request each one of you reading this to watch movie
with an open mind and at same time understand the logic behind fight of certain
sections of society against it. It’s a fight for one’s beliefs and faith. It’s
a fight of Freedom to choose and practice religion of one’s choice. No parties
should be forced to accept other’s views as long as they don’t cross the fine
line of vulgarity. Religious beliefs many times may seem illogical, but as long
as they keep giving hope to mankind, I would say let them be the way they are. Without
hope our lives would be living hell.
rented PK .... got to watch it .....
ReplyDeleteanyway nice article ..........
As a rational thinker, the question was never about what was shown in the movie but the question is regarding the selective application of the rules. Should the movie play? Yes. Should any movie depicting any flaws of any other religion play? Yes. Is the former happening? Yes. Is the latter happening? No. So why the difference? A large section of people did not like certain parts of the movie but no one seems to bother and rather continue calling it 'Artistic Freedom' but many other movies depicting the reality of other aspects fairly main stream, another large section of people protest, the whole country immediately does as per their wishes. Wasn't there any 'Artistic Freedom' involved in the other movies? Look what happened in Paris today. Did they think of the 'Artistic Freedom' before gunning down 12 cartoonist? No. Alas! Many these days are in need of a bloody sense of humor! So Manish Kumar, it is our faith, our teachings, our beliefs that even allows you/us and let's us question the same faith, the same teachings, the beliefs without any boundaries, if the the need arises. That's the beauty of the liberal aspect in it. And the beauty is such that you can even write you thoughts in a blog, justify many aspects of the movie as per your thoughts. Just imagine yourself not as Manish Kumar but a Mohammed Kamran, justifying the movie Gadar in Pakistan? Although those were true events shown in the movie, you would still be on the death row for blasphemy against what not! So just because we are a peace loving community doesn't mean we should allow being made fun of the very practice of going to a temple. It is fine to questions the wrong practices of Babas etc we shall accept that awful reality but you should also note that the protest aren't because the Babas were depicted as a villains, the protests are because every aspect of our belief is questioned, like going to a temple, worshiping an idol, and selective application of rules in the country. The what do you think about the love angle? It's like saying: Dear Hindu Girls, it is in fact extremely cool to marry Muslims, especially Pakistanis, as they're the most liberal and peace loving people on this planet. How ridiculous was that? Why is that never shown the other way around? It does not really matter but give it a thought. So there is lot of poisonous bull shit in that movie smartly woven into a form of a movie, making us the victims of our own liberal nature. It's like saying I will forcefully stuff crap in your throat. You may not like it but you can't refuse it because you're religion is liberal and thus you shall eat it. How wonderful is that? This shows how brilliantly equality and secularism has got corrupted in our country. Anyway, that's my take. Again, Hinduism in itself is tolerant, liberal, and considerate in nature.
ReplyDeleteTotally agreed with you. There's a limit to freedom one can get as artistic expression, or any form of expression. And Hinduism tends to make people gentler and more tolerant. It tends to make us accept others the way they are and respect everyone/everything. As you stated, we don't have 1 book or man to follow, instead Hinduism encourages us to discover ourselves and our inner self.
ReplyDeleteAlso see the equality of gender, there are almost equal number of Goddesses, many of whom are considered stronger than most Gods, which other religion can boast of it?
There are few religious fanatics, every religion has them. They don't represent Hinduism.