Thursday, May 21, 2009

Censor Hai..!!!

99 out of 100 people hum some song or the other at least once a day. That song may not be the one they like the most or might not be the most pleasant sounding one but it is generally the one which we hear recently. No wonder that after a bus journey I hum ‘Pardesi jana nahi…’ for 3-4 days !!

Today morning, while having my breakfast, I started humming ‘Jan Gan Man Rann hai…is rann me….’ (I had seen the trailer of this movie last night itself) and the following series of thoughts flashed into my mind.

‘I should stand up while singing Jan Gan Man….but wait… this is not Jan Gan Man…it’s Jan Gan Man Rann hai…so I need not stand…’

And since that time I have been continuously humming this song from movie RANN directed by our very own RGV. This song forced me to think whether it’s rightfully banned or it should be left on the audiences to use their discretion.

There’s no doubt that this song is very ear candy and with proper marketing it has the potential to make it to every house hold. I don’t know anything about the storyline as of now but it’s not difficult to guess that it would be portraying some rampant corruption or any other evil that has besieged the nation. I am pretty hopeful that, like any other bollywood movie, the good will eventually overcome the evil and it will all be goody goody at the end of the movie. But what if the music gets dear to the mass inside and outside the country? I am sure there will be more percentage of population who would have heard this song rather than those who would watch the movie and eventually see the good destroy the evil. Imagine how much of negative publicity and disgrace it would bring to the nation.

When Slumdog Millionare won the Oscars, we Indians were the first to say that the West likes seeing India as a downtrodden country. If we blamed Boyle for showing India a poor country then how can we Indians tell the world that

Vindh himachal yamuna ganga … Me tezaab ubal raha hai
Mar gaya sab ka zameer … Jaane kab zinda ho aagey


In a country where the public sentiment is hurt even by the use of words like ‘barber (in Billu)’, ‘mochi’, ‘chamar’ (in Aaja Nach le) then how can we tolerate someone saying these lines about our nation to the whole world

Desh ka aisa haal hai lekin …Aapas me ladd rahe neta
Jana gann mangal daayak jaya hai …Bhaarat ko bacha le vidhaata!!!
"

Every country has problems and I am not saying that we should not focus on our problems but there is a way to do everything. And above all some things are not meant to be played with. National Anthem is one such thing. Is there such a lack of creativity that people cannot express their feelings without adding indignity to our national anthem?

I am sure that at a time when we have been blessed with some what stable mandate in polls… the economy having faced the brunt of global downturn has survived, rather done well… there is widespread feeling of " jai ho " post Oscar and post polls… we do not want some one to come with slogans of " bhay ho " and spread fear and uncertainty which is so contagious.

To err is human and therefore the possibility that someone starts singing ‘Jan Gan Man Rann hai..’ instead of ‘Jan Gan Man’ cannot be ruled out. So what’s the need of this song when it threatens to lessen its dignity?

2 comments:

Musings!!!! said...

good one and thought-provoking observation..i still haven't seen the trailer......but m sure today's kids and as u said most of us will remember the song more than our anthem if the bollywood song gets proper publicity
(cricket and bollywood being the only 2 religion followed here...)...dat wud be sad.....

as always ununderstandable said...

Thought provoking blog but on the other hand if the feelings of the maker is spread by the song then the aim is accomplished.... though it requires more effort in making it spread as required so that the wrong messages are not spread.. banning such things actually makes them more provocative... i might be wrong but if the song is not banned but some messages are made mandatory to be added along with the song then i feel better messages and the motive of saving the nation from the ills prevalent today could be achieved.... again i say i might be wrong though but its a known fact tht ppl go to achieve the prohibited thigs n those ones which they have been warned not to do....