My daughter was insisting that we watch “funny videos” on YouTube (casting on TV) while she had her scrambled egg breakfast and waited for her math teacher to show up. When I started the YouTube app, I came across the trailer of the upcoming Amitabh Bachchan-Rishi Kapoor flick, 102 Not Out. I like both the actors, so I insisted that before we proceeded to funny videos, we should watch the trailer.
They show lots of stuff in the trailer and eventually, they show that Rishi Kapoor’s character is going through some existential dilemma and he ends up sitting in a church. Something in the scene put me off and without making it apparent to my daughter, I changed the video quickly and loaded one of the funny videos she was insisting on watching.
After reading what I’m writing, you may think that I am raking up some conspiracy theory or, I’m one of those “Right Wing” Sanghis constantly demonizing minorities and claiming that Hinduism is being targeted.
My grandmother often used to say that before my birth, she had never seen a disabled person. After my birth, she could spot people with disabilities everywhere (because I was born with a disability). My disability sensitized her towards a part of worldly reality she was totally oblivious to simply because she hadn’t experienced it herself.
Something of the same sort happens when you have been sensitized towards a particular issue: you begin to recognize patterns that others can’t. Of course, sometimes you begin to see patterns where none exist because you are too eager to find those patterns. But sometimes these patterns are too obvious.
In the above-mentioned movie, why did Rishi Kapoor’s character sit inside a church? Why not in a temple? Is he a Christian? If yes, why does the theme have to be about Christian characters? Would the characters look uncool had they been temple-going Hindus? Do the makers of the movie think the urban audience won’t be able to relate to temple-going characters?