Lights, Camera, Polls
Listen to excerpts from Outlook's One Nation,One Election issue by Pragya Vats
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 I'm Pragya and I bring to you excerpts from the latest issue of Outlook.
00:04 One nation, one election. One nation, many people.
00:08 The issue brings to you diverse debate and points of view on the idea of one nation and one election.
00:14 In the substrata section, Tanul Thakur of Outlook writes,
00:18 "Lights, camera, polls. Meaningful political films centered on elections can be commercial successes.
00:25 So why has Bollywood over the decades failed to capture its nuances?
00:29 On 13 September 2023, around two months before the state assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh,
00:35 a new film poster appeared across Bhopal.
00:38 It featured a man wearing military camouflage, his face and wrists wrapped in bandages,
00:43 bearing stark similarities to Shah Rukh Khan in the poster of Jawan.
00:47 A close look, though, revealed three key differences.
00:50 First, the man on the poster, not Khan, but Kamal Nath, the state's ex-chief minister.
00:56 Then, the movie's name, Korruption Ka Haiwan, followed by the director's name, Korruption Nath.
01:02 Since Indian politics can be more melodramatic than Bollywood melodramas, this wasn't their only recent interaction.
01:09 On the same day, talking to a reporter, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said,
01:14 "Have you seen Jawan? In it, Shah Rukh Khan says not to give votes on the basis of caste and religion.
01:20 Instead, ask the politician if they would give good education and medical care.
01:25 Only the Aam Aadmi Party asks for votes on the promise of providing education to children."
01:30 So if these two examples out of many show how Indian politicians appropriate Hindi cinema,
01:35 then its filmmakers have returned the favour with similar flair,
01:39 making enough movies on politicians where the nuances of their origins, the electoral process, is absolutely missing.
01:46 This lack seems surprising.
01:48 Bollywood directors have obsessed over corrupt politicians for long, and the narrative of an Indian election.
01:54 Blending rivalries, chaos and victors, it has an in-built three-act structure, packing in enough masala to satiate viewers.
02:02 So, over the last decade, following the dominant trend, filmmakers have captured the dramatic wattage in a language that comes naturally to them.
02:11 In Thalaivi, 2021, Raees in 2017 and Bhootnath Returns in 2014, election campaigns come alive through charged songs.
02:21 The cinematographic re-flourish also heightens the tension via wide shots of politicians rousing speeches.
02:28 For these and more, read the current issue of Outlook.
02:31 [MUSIC]