PK: Jo Dar Gaya, Woh Mandir Gaya

If you have followed all the previous movies directed by Rajkumar Hirani, then you are already familiar with his signature style and there must be several immensely popular dialogues or phrases in his films. “PK” is not an exception. “Peekay ho kya?”, “Dancing Cars”, “Wrong Number” and most interestingly “Jo dar gaya, woh mandir gaya” are such kinds of dialogues or phrases in “PK”. Before its release, PK created some curiosities and even controversies due to one of its posters in which Aamir Khan was seen posing nude with a well-placed boombox hiding his private part. Everyone knows that Aamir Khan loves and always tries to do two things for his movies. One is perfection and another is adopting peculiar strategies for promoting his films. This particular poster was certainly a part of his unusual and weird strategy but it still created some buzz about his role in this movie.

PK (the central character played by Aamir Khan) is an alien whose spaceship landed in the desert of Rajasthan in India and he alone came out of that spaceship. Much to our surprise, he was completely naked having only a necklace on his neck. The alien was sent to Earth for research. But what kind of research? Where were his scientific tools or devices for research? Was it research on the social structures or social behaviours of humans on Earth? The only device he carried with him was that necklace. It was a special necklace because it had a big gem that also showed some kind of electromagnetic pulse in it. This special necklace is not a long-distance signal-sending beacon device but a remote-control device for his spaceship. Now why does an alien need a remote control device for his spaceship? Because he can only recall his spaceship with the help of that device. Now the next question would be whether he was the alone space voyager in that big spaceship or not. It seems that he was alone otherwise he should have carried a beacon device or even a communication device for keeping contact constantly with the spaceship or other aliens in that spaceship. I have watched many alien movies in which a single or a group of aliens emerged from the spaceships. Some of them did have that beacon device but nobody carried a remote control device with them. This is something new, weird, and of course out of logic. The second weird thing was the nudity of that alien. The last alien in a Bollywood movie (Koi... Mil Gaya), Jadoo also came out of a spaceship wearing a spacesuit. It is simple science that if you travel into deep space for interplanetary spaceflight, you will need a spacesuit and if the alien looks like a human, that alien needs a spacesuit for that purpose. The third weird thing is the biological structure of that alien. He looks like a human and later he also learned how to talk in human language. But later he informed us that nobody on his home planet talks because the communication between two aliens is done completely by telepathy. Biology says that nature builds all animals even humans and develops all the organs as per the requirements of those animals. That means if the alien doesn’t need to talk for communication in his world, that alien body should not have a mouth at all. If we consider that he has a mouth only for eating, then what about the ability to talk which he develops later on Earth? I think Vocal Cord is also considered as an organ in Biology. This kind of fact was handled quite wisely in the Hollywood movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” in 2008. The alien was re-born rather than genetically re-modified in its human shape with the help of pre-collected human DNA from Earth.

“PK” is a Bollywood Hindi movie and certainly not a science fiction movie. So, discussing scientific facts in this review is a waste of words. Let’s get inside the movie. Soon after the Alien lands on Earth, he loses his remote control device. A villager snatches that device from his body and while chasing that villager, the alien manages to get the boombox from the villager but can't recover his lost device. Without that device, the alien cannot recall his spaceship and return to his home planet. So, the first target would be to find out that remote control device. This is where and how his journey begins on Earth. The alien starts to learn about human cultures and behaviours. The first thing he learns is that humans wear clothes so does he. The next lesson is that there are male and female versions of clothes. Even different male or different female humans wear different types of clothes on different occasions or purposes. I don’t think this human-like alien doesn’t know the difference between a male and a female animal. Then he understands the value of money in human society. He discovers two ways of earning money and clothes. One hilarious way is stealing money and clothes from dancing cars. If humans have sex in cars, that car shakes and the alien describes that car as the dancing car. Another way is stealing money from the bowls of blind beggars. Maybe you’ll find a few dancing cars in remote places in India but I don’t think you will see dancing cars publicly in Indian cities in broad daylight. This alien meets Bhairon Singh (played by Sanjay Dutt) and becomes his friend. Bhairon finds that his new friend always tries to grab the hands of other people. Bhairon thinks that his friend needs sex so he takes him to a nearby brothel. There the alien meets a prostitute and grabs her hands for some hours to absorb her memories and knowledge. By the next morning, the alien learned her mother tongue Bhojpuri and therefore the alien also started talking in Bhojpuri and eating paan (betel). Now the alien understands that if he wants to find his lost device, he will have to go to Delhi.

The core story takes place in Delhi. In a big city like Delhi, people get irritated by his simple questions about whether they have seen his lost remote control device or how to find that device. People generally react by asking him in return “Peekay ho kya?” which means “Are you drunk?” but eventually the alien was labeled with the name PK. He met all kinds of people and even the police and asked for his device but finally, he came under the impression from all the reactions he witnessed that only God knows and can help him to find his device. But who is this God? Where does he live? He visits all kinds of God’s houses like Temples, Churches, Mosques, Gurdwaras, etc. to meet him personally. But God personally doesn’t live in any of those houses and finally, PK concludes that God is missing. He distributes the leaflets that God is missing and if anybody finds God, can contact PK and inform him about the whereabouts of God. While distributing those leaflets, PK meets the television reporter Jaggu (played by Anushka Sharma). Jaggu has got her own story. Her actual name is Jagat Janani which was given by a God-Man Tapasvi Maharaj (Played by Saurabh Shukla). Jaggu’s father (played by Parikshit Sahni) respects this God-Man Tapasvi Maharaj and doesn’t do anything at all without consulting with him or taking permission from him. When Jaggu informs her father that she is in love with Sarfaraz Yousuf (played by Sushant Singh Rajput) who is a Muslim and also comes from Pakistan, Jaggu’s father immediately rushes to meet Tapasvi Maharaj for his advice. This God-Man predicts the future that Sarfaraz will betray her. The next day Jaggu decides to marry Sarfaraz but on the wedding day, due to a misunderstanding, the marriage didn’t happen and then Jaggu returned to India from Europe with a broken heart. Jaggu joins a news channel as a reporter and looks for sensational news. When Jaggu meets PK, Jaggu follows him and tries to understand him. PK tells her his whole story but she can’t believe him completely. Later she got the proof that PK really can grab memories by touching the hands of other people. Jaggu was not completely sure whether PK was an alien or not but she was quite sure of one thing the way PK behaves, how he asks straightforward and innocent questions to people around him, there must be something special in him. Somehow PK himself seems to be news to her. In his quest to find his device, PK comes to know that some God-Men have direct contact with God as they claim to common people. One day PK reaches an ashram or gathering place where the God-Man Tapasvi Maharaj was running a demonstration to show people that he can contact directly with God and therefore he has all the solutions for the problems of common people or his followers. PK notices that that God-Man Tapasvi Maharaj has his remote control device in his possession but that God-Man is telling people that this device is a part of Lord Shiva’s Damaru which Tapasvi Maharaj has found in the Himalayas. When PK claims his property, the guards forcefully show him the door. PK amuses why so many people follow and trust these God-Men without any doubt and pay their respects to them. He gradually understands that this is a business. These so-called God-Men sometimes perform some magic tricks to gain the trust of common people that they have the real divine power of communicating with God and if they want, they can show the common people the remedy and solution for the problems in their lives. So if the common people make him pleased with money, he can also get them out of their misery in return. The only capital that these so-called God-Men are using in this business is the fear of common people towards God. So PK’s ultimate realization is “Jo dar gaya, woh mandir gaya” which means “On being scared, one goes to the temple”.

Now Jaggu plans a strategy for how to expose these frauds and so-called God-Men to the people of India. She takes permission from her boss (played by Boman Irani) and assembles a team of cameramen and PK. They went to the ashram or gathering place of God-Man Tapasvi Maharaj with full arrangement of recording videos and then PK challenged Tapasvi Maharaj that whatever remedy or solutions he is offering to his followers or common people pretending that all the solutions are being conferred by God directly to him, are all wrong and by no means God could have provided such solutions to the common people because God loves every human being equally and treats them as children. God cannot make his followers suffer more while ending all kinds of suffering in life. That means how that so-called God-Man Tapasvi Maharaj was pretending to make contact with God directly, was completely wrong. PK described that as the “Wrong Number”. That incident was recorded by Jaggu and her team and later she showed that video on her news channel and asked common people to send her this kind of video naming them as “Wrong Number”. People responded very well by sending a lot of similar videos to that news channel. One Muslim schoolgirl even sent a video with the message “Itna chota nahin ho sakta hamara Khuda, ki use hamare school jaane pe aitraaz ho” which means “God cannot be so mean that he imposes objection against our will of going to school”. Then Jaggu’s boss was convinced that they could telecast a live show on this subject and conduct a face-to-face debate between PK and God-Man Tapasvi Maharaj on that show. Both Jaggu and her boss were confident that PK would expose that fraudulent so-called God-Man Tapasvi Maharaj to the people of India. Tapasvi Maharaj was nervous and scared of being exposed and losing his well-established business of cheating people with fake assurances that he could make people out of their misery. Tapasvi Maharaj even questioned in front of the media whether anybody knows which religion PK belongs to. The media pressure, the popularity of PK, and negative publicity on this kind of religious or God-based business left Tapasvi Maharaj no way but to accept the challenge of facing PK in a live debate on TV. Tapasvi Maharaj thought that if he successfully confused PK about religion and the way of following God and PK didn’t give him the answers, he could save his business and regain popularity. The show started and Tapasvi Maharaj directly questioned his religion and asked if he had any better way to show people compassion or help them get out of their miseries. I thought this debate was going to be a tough and long one but it soon became a personal challenge between Tapasvi Maharaj and PK. Tapasvi Maharaj once predicted that Sarfaraz Yousuf would betray Jaggu and exactly that had happened. PK said that Sarfaraz didn’t betray Jaggu rather it was a simple matter of misunderstanding. Tapasvi Maharaj was furious and announced that if PK proved that the prediction was incorrect, then Tapasvi Maharaj himself would hand over that remote control device to PK. Then PK asks Jaggu to contact Sarfaraz Yousuf in Pakistan over the telephone. After a few attempts, she made a call to Sarfaraz and then the actual truth came out that PK was right. PK got his device back and then he reached the desert of Rajasthan accompanied by Jaggu. PK returned to his home planet by his spaceship at the end. But after one year, PK returns to Earth again with a group of aliens including a special one (played by Ranbir Kapoor). It was more like a packaged tour to Earth with PK being the guide of that tour party. The director Rajkumar Hirani has also kept the interest alive for a sequel.

Rajkumar Hirani makes all his movies including "PK" full of comedy and very very hilarious punch lines and comical incidents often make the audience compelled to fall from their seats bursting out with laughter. But Rajkumar Hirani also conveys a strong social message through his movies. He has raised a lot of questions via a straightforward and innocent person like PK about all the religions, and the diverse and peculiar ways of following respective Gods in those different religions. The tagline “Jo dar gaya, woh mandir gaya” is the message he has tried to convey to the audience and the people of India. But Temples, Churches, Mosques, Gurdwaras, etc., or the religions Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc., or the different ways of following the respective Gods themselves are not the subjects Rajkumar Hirani is trying to make fun of, in his movie “PK”. Religion is a sensitive issue in India and nobody dares to play with the issue or make fun of it especially if you want to make a film touching that issue, you will play with care otherwise the sensor board as well as various radical religious groups or extremists will come into the arena. I think Rajkumar Hirani has targeted only those so-called God-Men who have flourished in India over the years. We are currently living in the twenty-first century. The time has changed, and so must we. We should not allow these God-Men to do business using our faith, religion, our emotions, and respect towards our deities pretending that they are the only direct communication or media between God and us. If the common people have faith in their God, they can pray directly to God or visit the home of God like Temples, Churches, Mosques, Gurdwaras, etc., and pay their respects directly to God. I remember a particular dialogue in a recent Hollywood movie “Man of Steel” in which Father Leone tells Clark Kent (Superman) that “Sometimes, you have to take a leap of faith first. The trust part comes later”. This is a very important sentence if you want to define God and religion.

This is not the first time that a film director has tried to convey this message to the people of India. We saw “OMG – Oh My God!” directed by Umesh Shukla a couple of years ago. But by comparison with that movie, "PK" has performed better and God himself also didn’t come to rescue his followers in “PK". I also want to discuss on couple of other issues that are somehow inter-connected with each other in “PK". While exploring human nature and behaviours, PK falls in love with Jaggu but senses that Jaggu loves Sarfaraz. PK hides his love and only at the time of returning to his home planet, just before embarking on his spaceship, Jaggu discovers PK’s sentiments towards her but can’t react at all. Later Jaggu published a book on PK and explained that PK actually sacrificed his love for Jaggu and never looked back to her while departing Earth because he probably wanted to hide his tears. In another incident, while Bhairon Singh was coming to Delhi to meet his friend PK and hand over the thief who snatched PK's remote control device,  both Bhairon Singh and the thief were killed in a bomb explosion in the Delhi railway station. That explosion took place just in front of PK and he got cold feet due to the intensity of that explosion. The thief paid the price for his crime but PK's innocent friend Bhairon Singh was the victim of either the act of terrorism or the pursuit of destiny. The loss of Bhairon Singh taught PK the lesson of going through the pain or sorrow of losing somebody like a relative or friend. PK has learned both the feelings of love and sorrow in one life on Earth. He came to Earth naked and while departing Earth, he never looked back to Jaggu. Maybe Rajkumar Hirani was inspired by the “Mahaprasthanika Parva” from the Indian epic “Mahabharata” that he has tried to showcase the great journey of a human being on Earth from birth to death.

Bang Bang: A typical Bollywood movie, too much bang bang but nothing more

I had a good time during these Durga Puja holidays without any specific programme of watching big movies in theatres. There was no release of any big science fiction movie in India at that time which would have suited my taste better. But I knew that two big-starrer Hindi movies were going to be released in India during the Durga Puja festival. One is 'Bang Bang' and another one is 'Haider' but I didn't have any plans to watch either of them in the theatre. But a small news headline caught my attention that 'Bang Bang' had earned a whopping big amount of Rs. 175 crore worldwide in just four days. Boy, there must be something special in that movie, big star casting, an exciting trailer, action, and romance…..What more can you ask for?

I had some other plans to enjoy my holidays but ultimately I decided to watch 'Bang Bang' instead. Just like everybody else, I entered a movie theatre in south Kolkata with high expectations but by the time this movie reached its halftime, I already knew that it was a shocker and a heartbreaker as well. But I still didn't get to the conclusion that it was a complete waste of my time rather I was still waiting for the climax and also looking for other entertaining elements in this movie. I also thought about writing a review.

Why did they choose ‘Bang Bang’ as the name of this movie? The sound is no doubt very loud. It has a Title Track ‘Bang Bang’ which I think came first and then came along the Title of this movie otherwise it doesn’t make any sense to me that the name has anything to do with the story of this movie at all.

Let's start from the beginning. When I said beginning, I meant Title Sequence. After showing all kinds of partner shit (this partner, that partner, xxx partner, etc.), then the Title Sequence of the Distributor was shown that ‘Bang Bang’ was distributed as well as produced by Fox Star Studios. Encouraging huh! I was excited and waiting for a thrilling show with high expectations. The story starts against a backdrop of terror at the very heart of London. A terrorist mastermind Omar Zafar (played by Danny Denzongpa) was caught by London police but held in a special cell right at the MI6 Headquarters. But as the story goes, this character didn't look like a terrorist mastermind to me rather it should be outlined best as an international gangster. Do you know what kind of agency the MI6 is? It is the British intelligence agency (Secret Intelligence Service or SIS, commonly known as Military Intelligence, Section 6 or MI6), the counterpart of India's own secret intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing). Don’t you remember James Bond movies? He is the fictitious secret agent of this same MI6. I don't believe that MI6 handles any gangster-like Omar Zafar by any means. So, Interpol or Scotland Yard would have been the appropriate agency in this case. An Indian Army officer Viren Nanda (played by Jimmy Shergill) along with two more Indian Army officers arrived there to receive Omar Zafar and take him back to India. After a brief lecture, he informed Omar Zafar that India and the UK were going to sign a new extradition treaty. First of all, the Indian Army does not engage in this kind of extradition activity especially overseas because there are other Indian agencies in place for that kind of jobs and secondly India and the UK have already signed the extradition treaty in 1993. Had the extradition treaty presumably not yet been signed between these two countries by then, how come the UK govt. would have handed over Omar Zafar to India without signing the treaty? Omar Zafar’s henchman Hamid Gul (played by Jaaved Jaffery) along with a handful of men with automatic guns then came into sight to rescue Omar Zafar. They killed all the guards in MI6 very easily and subsequently killed Viren Nanda with high drama before rescuing Omar Zafar. As a matter of fact, Omar Zafar himself killed Viren Nanda in cold blood by shooting and then burning him alive. Surprisingly all the guards in MI6 were either Indian or of Indian origin and I think James Bond himself would have fainted for sure should he have known how easy that rescue operation was.

Let’s proceed further. As soon as Omar Zafar flees from MI6, a new news headline emerges on all the TV news channels across the world that the precious and prestigious Koh-i-Noor diamond has been stolen from the Tower of London. The interesting part is the very reason behind that stealing which is the declaration of Omar Zafar that he would give a reward of $5 Million to the thief who must be an Indian, so that Omar Zafar can hold both India and the UK for ransom to prevent the extradition treaty which is yet to be signed between these two countries. If this is the motive, then what on Earth an Indian thief is necessary for that because the nationality of the thief is not important but the diamond itself is if the mission has to be accomplished successfully. OK, fine, the next stop is Shimla in India. A meeting has been arranged between the thief Rajveer (played by Hrithik Roshan) and the men of Hamid Gul for a deal for Koh-i-noor. Now Rajveer doesn’t agree to complete the deal with the initial reward money of $5 Million but demands $20 Million instead, as a new price. I was confused that if we just left the successful smuggling part of the diamond from the UK to India, why did any thief agree to finalise the deal in India instead of somewhere safe place in the UK so that the risk of being caught could be avoided or minimised. If I am not wrong, the price tag of Koh-i-noor should be above $1 Billion or it could even be priceless. If you can get $1 Billion or some less than that in the black market, then would you like to deal it just in Millions? Did you see the Koh-i-Noor diamond that Rajveer showed to the Men of Hamid Gul at an open restaurant in Shimla? It was a good and typical diamond-shaped diamond but not a good replica of Koh-i-noor. I think the actual replica of Koh-i-noor won’t look like a good and typical diamond in the movie and therefore it was an intentional presentation of the diamond by the Director.

Now the sweetest part of the film takes place, which is the appearance of the Heroine of this movie, Harleen Sahani (played by Katrina Kaif). I must say that the Director of this movie has portrayed this character Harleen Sahani in a very peculiar way. She works in the Bank of Shimla as a Receptionist but where is the Reception Desk? She sits at a common desk along with other Clarks inside the Bank and handles some telephone calls. Please don’t tell me that this is a new ultra-modern type of Receptionist job. She is single but doesn’t have a Boyfriend. It is not like she doesn’t want a Boyfriend, because she is still looking for a Date with the help of a dating website. A modern young female character with a great figure and a good job who lives in a modern city in India is still looking for her first Boyfriend. Can you believe that? Sorry, I cannot buy that story. Maybe the Director could have presented this character Harleen Sahani in a better, mature, and acceptable way. I don’t want to spend too many words on how Katrina Kaif speaks in Hindi or how good her acting skills are. It’s an open secret and already well-discussed by the fans of Bollywood movies. There is nothing to add there.

The arrival of the Indian secret agency Internal Secret Service (ISS) is another interesting part of this movie. Make no mistake that it's 'Internal', not 'Indian' in ISS. So, the UK has SIS, Pakistan has ISI and India has ISS. They thought that it couldn't have been better than that but why ISS, a fabricated name, instead of RAW or IB? If you can use the name MI6 for the British intelligence agency, then what makes you think of using a new fictional name instead of a real one for an Indian intelligence agency? Is there any copyright issue for using these real names in movies? “Kahaani’ or ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ told us otherwise. No, I think the actual reason is Pakistan. We have seen how ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ was banned in Pakistan due to the presence of RAW and ISI in that movie. I think the Director has successfully saved the market in Pakistan for this movie. Did you see the CCTV footage of Rajveer with the Koh-i-noor in his hand, which came to the notice of ISS chief Narayanan (played by Vikram Gokhale) and his deputy Zorawar (played by Pawan Malhotra)? That CCTV footage was taken in Shimla at the time when the deal between Rajveer and the men of Hamid Gul was about to be done but the fact is, that restaurant, its owner, or its waiter does not seem to be reliable for owning, and positioning the CCTV camera in place besides the fact that this restaurant was an open restaurant and if you consider the angle of the shot, it seems impossible to place a CCTV camera in that restaurant.

As the Hero and Heroine are running away together, Heroine is witnessing the spy kind of fighting by Hero with the bad guys, crossing continents without a passport or visa, and experiencing life in Hideouts; it slowly reminded me of the Hollywood movie ‘Knight and Day’ (Played by Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz) and as much as the events unfolded, they seemed familiar to me, I was literally losing my interest in this movie and practically it was too hard for me to hold my patience till the end. Who are the Script Writer and Director of this movie? Are they stupid and do not do any homework at all or do they think that the audience is all stupid? How can the Director get inspired so much and copy the scenes of ‘Knight and Day’ so obviously in ‘Bang Bang’? Later I came to know that ‘Bang Bang’ is the so-called official remake of ‘Knight and Day’. Really! An Indian version of that Hollywood movie. Good Lord! Please give the Oscar to the Director of ‘Bang Bang’ in a new category which is “How to Remake Officially and Destroy Successfully, a Bollywood Movie”. Please do the official remake shit only for South Indian movies or even try to remake officially the old Bollywood movies. A few Bollywood Directors have successfully done that but please keep the Hollywood movies aside for now.

The story circles officially from London to Shimla via Prague and Dehradun. But the change of locations didn’t follow any logic. The couple escaped from Shimla and reached a hideout which is an island somewhere in Europe and close to Prague, but without any passport and visa. Remember Harleen Sahani when she escaped from the grip of ISS in a hurry and couldn’t carry her passport with her? I am leaving the passport and visa part in this movie. It looks real that she can be brought back to India by the help of ISS and Indian Embassy in Prague. Finally, the Heroine has been kidnapped by the men of Omar Zafar from her house in Shimla and brought to the hideout of Omar Zafar in the middle of a Desert. Bike riding, F1 car riding, and seaplane are all close to a Desert which looks to me like a modern Arabic Desert probably in the Middle East. The locations are fine as far as this shiny and bang movie is concerned but there is no such place in India close to Shimla and the Thar Desert in Rajasthan doesn’t look like that with ultra-modern highways, F1 cars, flyovers, seaplanes, etc. OK let me leave this change of location part here. It can be accepted in movies, especially in Bollywood movies.

The climax was like a typical old Bollywood movie from the 70s and 80s. The control of the situation gets exchanged three or four times from the Hero to the Villain and vice versa before the end of the evil. Before the fall of Omar Zafar, Rajveer or Jai Nanda revealed the secret that it was a joint operation of MI6 and ISS altogether to catch or kill Omar Zafar and Jai Nanda is the brother of Viren Nanda who was killed by Omar Zafar at MI6 Headquarters in London. The Koh-i-noor was never stolen from the Tower of London. It was a trap for Omar Zafar. The Heroine Harleen Sahani once followed the trail of Rajveer and reached his real home at Dehradun and discovered that Rajveer is, in fact, Jai Nanda, the brother of Viren Nanda and an Indian Army officer like his brother. So, the Indian Army with the help of ISS, sent Jai Nanda to pursue his vendetta and catch Omar Zafar dead or alive. I believe the Indian Army will never allow that kind of secret mission officially or even unofficially. The last scene is a happy ending with the reunion of Hero, Heroine, and the parents of the Hero (played by Kanwaljit Singh and Deepti Naval) at the home of Jai Nanda in Dehradun.

Some of the songs and their picturisation are good following the modern Zen-Y taste and also good for nightclubs. If you are a crazy fan of Katrina Kaif or especially Hrithik Roshan and if you know how to ignore the logic and yet just want to enjoy a typical Bollywood Hindi movie, then you can watch this movie without any hesitation. This movie has its entertaining elements and all the masala of a typical Bollywood movie. Hrithik Roshan has been presented as a complete entertainment package and some may say that it’s a complete paisa vasool movie, after all, it has joined the Rs. 100 Crore club in the first week of its release.

World Cup Football 2014 (Brazil) - English Songs

Jennifer Lopez & Claudia Leitte ft. Pitbull - We Are One - (Ole Ola) [The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Song]

Shakira ft. Carlinhos Brown - La La La (Brazil 2014)

What do Indian Men think of Women and vice versa?

What is happening to India? What’s wrong with this country? Every day sexual assault after assault is being reported by our news media and we are getting horrified by these incidents. It sounds very shameful and weird that a new rape is taking place every 22 minutes in India. Are these modern-day Indian statistics destined to end in our coffee table discussion or a harsh reality? Nobody doubts that India is a rising superpower. Its economy is booming. Since 1991 after the economic liberalisation, its socioeconomic structure has gotten stronger in this Twenty-First century. Its growth rate was phenomenal in the last two decades. More and more people are crossing that so-called below-poverty line and the number of middle-class people in India is now the highest in the world. India even claims that this country has the most young people in the world. Don’t you feel proud of all these developments that India is currently going through? Our society, our education level and the standard of living are all progressing ahead. So, all the developments and growths we have had in the last 65 years, have nothing to do with the fact that a lot of dark patches are still there deep inside our society. The good sign is that these sexual assault cases are now being brought to light either by the news media or by the victims themselves. It’s a burning topic for discussion in India and around the world. Since the December 2012 notorious gang rape case which made the national and international headlines, the world is now calling India especially New Delhi the rape capital of the world.

Sometimes I wonder whether we are really progressing as a society or walking backward to the Middle Ages. Maybe it is because of the women of India who are now becoming more educated, getting free from social barriers, and being even more courageous to report their sexual assaults to the authorities and that is why these new complaints are adding up to the statistics even more. On the other hand, there is also a possibility that the typical mindset of Indian men towards women is getting more and more freakish day by day. As an Indian man, should I feel ashamed of these incidents? Of course, I am, because as a common Indian, I am also feeling the heat. I am a typical urban guy and gradually I am sensing that all these incidents are also showing their effects within the society itself. The mutual respect of men and women towards one another has also been coming under tremendous stress and that is now very much evident in our day-to-day life. Even younger women are getting more and more suspicious of middle-aged men in the streets, trains, and buses and even throw strange glaze towards all kinds of men as if every man irrespective of his age, is a possible rapist. Young women have also got such a scary impression that older men are more dangerous than young men. When such an incident is brought to our notice, our skeptical male mindset doesn’t accept its reality. We think that it is either an over-emphasized story or a twisted truth. India is a land of nuclear families with love and respect towards our elderly people. Indians are brought up with this rich Indian culture and traditional values. But this new phenomenon of downgrading our mutual respect towards one another has been staining that clean and robust Indian culture and traditional values that we have been very proud of to date.

Humans are nothing but social animals and they also have animal instincts. Humans like all other animals also need to use sex for reproduction. In the animal kingdom, you will find that there are very simple rules in place for the sexual reproduction process. Male animals fight with each other and whoever wins the battle, becomes the alpha male animal and then he mates with the female animal. This process of reproduction in the animal kingdom varies from animal to animal but the basic rules that nature has written for animal reproduction and survivability, are almost the same as the best animal genes are carried with to their successors. We call it survival of the fittest. However, humans are also very different from animals in terms of both physiological and social structures. Some animals too live in social structures but that doesn’t come into comparison when it comes to human society. Humans have developed over time, a very very complex social structure in every part of this planet with their language, knowledge, technology, and culture. Now humans do not choose their life partners only by their physiology rather it is subject to many different complex criteria and thus that has also developed a very complex human psychology. But deep inside our body, our genes still drive us to select the best life partner as far as possible. A woman still loves men with good physic and handsome looks. A man still loves beautiful women with good health and body and considers that a young woman with a beautiful and healthy body means she will carry, give birth, and take good care of his child. It is the gene that tells a man in his subconscious mind to look for a beautiful woman with big breasts and wide buttocks. A beautiful face means that a woman is still young, big breasts mean that they will produce enough milk for her child and wide buttocks mean that they will ease up the child's delivery with less complexity. So, in his subconscious mind, a man always gets attracted easily to a beautiful woman with a beautiful body. When a man considers a woman a sexy woman that means he also wants to mate with that sexy woman. But does it mean that men always look at women’s bodies with shameless eyes? The answer is No because our culture, education, conscience, and ethics always prevent us from acting in such a way within a society. Our society also doesn’t allow us to do so and thus all men are also aware of that fact and behave accordingly living within a society.

Indian men are no different than Western, African, or other Asian men when it comes to human genes and it has nothing to do with skin colour. But the cultures are different. We the Indians are so proud of our culture that we give the best respect to our women. India is a Hindu-dominated country and the most powerful and respected Hindu Gods are women. Then why the most number of female molestations and physical assaults are taking place in India? Some feminists would also say other than their usual explanations that since the women of India have improved so much in every field shoulder to shoulder with men, Indian men now have become more jealous of women and thus that jealousy often results in physical assaults. I would rather oppose that theory because the improvement of the status of women in India is very much helping our country progress ahead but that doesn’t mean that Indian men have suddenly become anti-women. The answer lies deep beneath the social root of Indian society. We now live in a modern world, especially a modern India, and many modern catalysts are responsible for these kinds of mishaps.

Bollywood is the second biggest film industry in the world. The difference between Hollywood and Bollywood movies is quite significant. In Bollywood movies or even all kinds of Indian regional movies, the hero sings and dances to impress the heroine and often teases her in public to get her attention and acceptance. He constantly teases her with songs, and words even with physical touches, and the heroine constantly rejects him and refuses his offer. But the most ridiculous part is that in almost every movie, the ultimate result would be in favour of that hero. The heroine ultimately accepts him as her life partner and also accepts all his mischief with a smiling face. No matter if it is a top-class or a third-grade movie, these movie scripts are always written in the same manner which ends up in a happy climax. Our society, our people, and our government love these kinds of movies and so does the censor board. Since our society accepts these kinds of movies and our people love to see these kinds of movies, all the movie producers also want to make them for good business and profits. Good business and profit also mean good tax for the government. So there is an official acceptance or social stamp always attached to these kinds of scenes in all these movies and we are being raised watching these kinds of movies from our childhood in India. What kind of general impression the general public gets from these movies is that, if it is possible in movies then why not possible in real life? After all, movie scripts are also written based on or inspired by the society itself. So, if an Indian man teases an Indian woman and she rejects or refuses constantly that doesn’t mean No to that Indian man rather he thinks that if he continues to tease her no matter how she reacts, ultimately he will succeed and get his girl with her smiling face, just like a Bollywood movie. Now Indian society has started to realise that these Bollywood and regional movies have played a crucial role which ultimately helps increase the number of eve-teasing in Indian society. I hope the government also listens to that call.

India has been transforming itself from a rural agricultural country to a well-developed and urban industry-based modern country. The rural Indians are now running in great numbers towards cities for better earnings and a better life. But the rural cultural background they are coming from which they have been experiencing their entire life, is completely different than that of the lifestyles in cities and they often end up in deep cultural shocks. In most rural India, the most popular entertainments are cheap liquor, third-grade movies, and rural sports. They generally listen to Radio but most of rural India doesn't know what Television is and many distant parts of India do not even enjoy electricity. Rural life in India is very hard and complex with restrictions in social barriers which are based on casts, religions, etc. Poverty is another factor they also have to deal with in their day-to-day life. But whenever they go to a modern Indian city, they have to live in slums with very low-quality infrastructures around them because a labour is still very cheap in India compared to Western countries, and low earnings don’t allow them to afford high-quality living. The other factor is that they also have to save money for their families back in the rural India they came from. In these slums, they often have to live in a group without their women companions. Sometimes they feel a little bit of freedom from their social restrictions but despite their new freedom they also meet with the modern culture, modern clothing, food habits, way of living and the modern standard of living the urban elite enjoys in modern cities. They also feel as if they have been deprived of money, better living, similar social status, and sex by none other than our society itself. City brothels do not solve their problems all the time. This sense of injustice in their lives sometimes helps grow anger, loss of ethics, confusion, and frustration in their minds. I must say that Bollywood movies also play a huge role in their minds because Bollywood movies also show that all kinds of elite, rich, and powerful people are bad and the underprivileged people must stand against them even with force and that is called heroism. This vast labour force often gets confused and sometimes results in committing crimes. Their poor education and low-quality social background sometimes overshadow their minds for ethics and the sense of the aftermath of their crimes.

Indian politics sometimes is also well-connected with powerful businessmen and the underworld. Some politicians, businessmen, and underworld criminals think that their power comes from money and guns and if they have money and guns, they can do anything they want as well as evade Indian laws very easily. They want everything they see and they think that they will get whatever they want by their power of money and guns. Their hunger for more money and power, lust for something, and everything don’t just stop ever and they think that they will fulfill their desires either by hook or crook. This nexus between politicians businessmen and the underworld sometimes successfully prevents our law enforcement systems and judicial system from acting upon these crimes. If any female molestation or assault is reported by the victim accusing another person who belongs to a nexus of this kind, that powerful nexus always shows the confidence that it can easily save the accused from justice with its power and money. But that also now seems to be very hard for them in this modern India.

When a female molestation or sexual assault happens to a woman, our stereotypical male-dominated society often blames that woman for that very crime for which she wants justice. Some people blame her clothing and others even do not hesitate to question her attitude and character. Every time the blame goes back to the female victim instead of the criminal who committed the crime. Our society thinks that the victim herself should be held responsible because she must have provoked that person to commit that crime. Had she not dressed like that, had she not gone to that place, had she gone to that place at that time, had she gone to that place without any trusted or elder male companion, that crime would never have happened at all. Sometimes politicians also ask questions about the clothing of modern women as they think that modern-day female clothing does not cover up the body curvature of a woman completely and that might act as a provocation or a catalyst that increases the male instincts and that might hamper the law and order in the society. When politicians ask a lot of questions about the presence of the victim at the wrong place at the wrong time even knowing that these kinds of questions could impose a character certificate to that victim, it is understandable what prompts them to throw those unreasonable questions. Those politicians think that over over-publicity of these crimes would hold those politicians themselves responsible for the lack of law and order in those areas or states. Those politicians even think that these bad issues might be taken up by other political parties. Sometimes they also come up with some conspiracy theories that those crimes must have been plotted by opposition political parties to malign the ruling parties. They just want to avoid moral or social responsibility and wash their hands from these issues as quickly as possible otherwise they think that these uncomfortable issues might affect their political career or vote bank.

Modern young people of India love to wear modern clothing but the older generations of India still love traditional clothing till date. Although these young modern people come from different social backgrounds. Most of these young people of modern India have been raised watching their parents wearing mostly traditional clothing. So, most of these young Indians are still not used to seeing modern clothing of other young Indians as normal culture. In Western countries, any kind of modern or ultra-modern clothing is considered normal in general opinion because those are nothing new to them. India is currently going through many cultural transitions which might last in our future generations as well. So, that kind of cultural acceptance might take some more time in every part of India. Even though we are currently living in the information age of satellite television, smart mobile phones, and the internet which have opened our world of information and knowledge, I think the news media as the fourth pillar of democracy is doing a great job improving and purifying the standard of our society in India but I also think that education and general awareness will also have to play a greater role in our society to overcome these obstacles.

As India is becoming a modern country day by day in terms of infrastructure development, education, health, transportation, industralisation, digitilisation, etc., so are our societies. India is not a single society but a union of societies just like our states and union territories. Our societies have different religions, cultures, languages, eating habits, cuisines, clothing, festivals, etc. But what unites us as a country is that we are the citizens of India. But what about our values? During ancient India, the Middle Ages, foreign occupation, and even just a few decades after independence, many Indian values are now considered irrelevant or no longer acceptable these days. For instance, there was a time in India when if a husband dies, the wife is accustomed to dying with her dead husband together. This practice of Hindu widow burning with dead husband as “Sati” was considered a sacred value or duty which must be done voluntarily or by force. Child marriage was another such practice. But thanks to our respectable Indian social reformers like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, B.R. Ambedkar, etc., the values of Indian society have changed from time to time. Someone can say that those were social prejudices and not values. But whatever our society or our parents teach us as the right thing to do or consider as the right culture to follow, all are values, aren’t they? We Indians have changed and so has our society, isn’t it? Living together, inter-caste marriages, etc. are no longer considered wrong things in our society anymore. Coming to the present subject of this article, do you think our mothers teach our boys to tease, molest, or even rape girls as the right thing to do? Absolutely not! Even though our mothers teach us to respect women and respect female gods, sometimes our boys become naughty or sometimes become criminals. But what factors play in between? Sometimes money, sometimes deprival of something, sometimes curiosity, lack of knowledge, lack of a sense of consequences, sometimes overwhelming sense of lust or sexual urge, shift from a sense of ignorance to a sense of vengeance, sometimes copycat behavior to become unique in the society or maybe a lot of other reasons that play crucial roles behind the scenes of those small or big crimes. I am neither a socialist nor an expert on psychology. Whatever I am discussing in this article, are my personal thoughts. So, I am not going to deep inside and explore human psychology or present social structure. Simply I think that our parents as well as our schools, colleges, and universities should play a greater role in moulding our values and our conscience from our childhood to our adulthood so that we can complete this journey of Indian civilization, social, developmental and industries transformation so that India can become a truly developed nation in every aspect from the social development indicators to the living standards of the Indians in India.

Day Out around Park Street of Kolkata on Christmas

Day Out at Hooghly River Bank of Kolkata