But that’s also the rub. Bollywood movies don’t just humanize terrorist protagonists, they glamorize them: the terrorists wear great outfits, sing and dance, love passionately, and have the best lines. The films do have serious suggestions about who the terrorist is, and what created him or her, but could a gullible viewer take away the message that terrorism is cool?
No way, says Delacy. “People are used to Hindi films being Hindi films. Audiences have always had an understanding of this as just a film, with no relationship to reality. People take it in the right spirit.”
I recall a 1981 love story called Ek Duuje Ke Liye (Made for Each Other), in which the doomed lovers kill themselves rather than be separated. The movie set off a spate of copycat suicides in the country by couples who thought their romances, too, were doomed.
But Delacy has thought about this. “Aspects of society [in which] people feel isolated and fragmented, not having a support structure or community, could contribute to [such] responses. Community is still important in India, so films play only a particular role in people’s lives. If you have other structures around you, they help you integrate, and people for the most part live peaceful lives.” Besides, he adds, “I think it would undermine the legitimacy of [terrorism], to have a person who seems so ideologically committed singing and dancing around trees.”
To paraphrase: if you’re anchored in community, and recognize fantasy when you see it, a Bollywood movie cannot turn you into a terrorist unless you’re already a wack job.
That may be true in India, but what about audiences in America? Bollywood films are released in the US by Hollywood studios as well as independent exhibitors, and arguably, the reception of terrorist-themed films might be different here.
Anil Mehrotra, who has been bringing Bollywood films to Boston theaters for 13 years, says he has never worried about terrorism as a sensitive movie theme. “Any movie, no matter what the subject, if it’s made tastefully, should do well,” he says. “Most people I talk to are fascinated by the colors, the colorful costumes, the basic premises of evil losing against good. And they find the music enthralling.”
Maybe watching too many Bollywood movies about terrorism would somehow normalize it, and we’d become desensitized to the real thing. But really, I feel like I could use a little desensitization, after eight years of W. hissing “terrorism” to advance his agenda, and keeping my nerves jangled with bogus threats. I don’t mind seeing the bogeyman humanized, nor considering what makes him or her tick. It may even help dispel my xenophobia.
As long as I have a president who’ll address the underlying causes of terrorism, I’ll vote, pay my taxes, and leave the heavy lifting to him. If Bollywood wants to help me laugh at my fears a bit, bring it on.
Seetha Narayan can be reached atseethnarayan3@gmail.com.
