Vishwaroopam issue – whose business is it anyway?

At 5:55 pm, the honorable CM gives an arm length speech about why the government had banned the so-called religiously outrageous movie ‘Vishwaroopam’ in Tamil Nadu. At 6:15pm, when I flip to a news channel on TV, there stands the veteran actor Kamal Haasan, who emotionally ricochets into the mic, his objections about the movie insulting the Muslim creed. In the papers, the entire first page is consumed by the ban of a single movie. Who is really involved here anyway? Is it the director, the government or the public?

Media, of all things is just a form of expression and entertainment to the public and why should the ban or the progress of a single movie affect any religion or any audience. Fine, let’s leave the opposing Muslims out of this. What about the other public who call themselves the fans of the actor or cinema who want the movie to come out in the screens of Tamil Nadu? Does the movie solve any of the problems that we already have here? If at all the movie is going to give a noble message by its appearance on screen, are we even ready to take the good message into heart? Are we going to put an end to corruption, terrorism, violence, poverty, the outrageous monetary scams and other crime that we do?

I am sure we won’t! There were a million Mahathmas, Teresas, Abdul Kalams, Prophet Muhammads, Jesus, Adi Sankracharyas, Buddhas who lived just to mend our ways. Who were born into this world to guide us into light. But have we ever taken what they said into heart? We have always remained the corrupt world which doesn’t give a damn to whoever is ready to help and I imply the same will happen after Vishwaroopam’s release. So why bother about it’s ban or release anyway? Why organize protests, strikes, outrageous cry on the roads?

Movies, books, the newspaper, actors or any other form of artists are nothing but a mere source of entertainment for the public to enjoy at their leisure and we are in no way personally obliged or connected to anybody. So why worry if Sachin retires or Kamal’s movie survives a ban?

We have the world ahead of us. We have global challenges, problems and disasters side by side! We have the issue of poverty, where people are DYING every day. We have the issue of corruption where our hard earned money is being SWINDLED every hour. We have the problem of terrorism where people are SHOT DOWN like dogs every minute. We have the issue of women sexual abuse where 1/10 women are losing their SOCIAL STATUS every second. We have the problem of caste disparity and religion disparity, where many innocent people are being BEATEN UP every milli-second.

In the middle of all these burgeoning problems which really deserve the public’s attention, do we really have time for such a petty issue like releasing a movie or not? We do get the time because we neglect other important issues. We are literate, but we never have learnt to prioritize on things. We are sensitive, but sensitive only for petty issues which do not connect to reality. We are very active, but not active enough for those problems which need to be activated upon. We do raise our voice, but do not raise it for our societal gain, but for the gain of a cinema star.

I am not personally against or for the movie’s ban. In fact, if it gets released I will be the first person to watch it in theaters. But, I really feel that people should look at a movie as an entertainment and not as if their lives depend upon it and concentrate more on the reality that’s gripping us, the issues that really curb us from our freedom. After all, whose business is it anyway?

Pic courtesy – The Hindu

Article written by Gayathree Ganesan

Gayathree is a under-graduate student of commerce who loves to write. She write poetry, short stories and articles in her blog. She has also volunteered for the Greenpeace Chennai in its Junglistan campaigns. She also writes for the E-magazine Pulse72plus and contribute articles every month for the magazine and its blog.