Of Bollywood and Faith
Was watching last friday (not the one that had just passed) the Bollywood classic Amar, Akbar and Anthony. I myself am growing increasingly fond of Indian movies for their charming plot lines, affable characters and surreal outlook and arguably many American films are in the same league. We may deride Bollywood for it's obvious escapism (mansions and skyscrapers mainly dot the Indian landscape in a traditional Bollywood movie) however it is separated by a few degrees from Hollywood in this regard. I find that American films hardly portray the average, indeed mundane & suburban, life of middle America preferring instead rather dwell on Manhattan, California and the life of a slice of the American populations who do lead other than normal lives. Hollywood is America's most successful agent and though I am not who decries it, indeed being an ardent consumer of it's annual churn out, but it depicts an America that is far removed from the reality. Seemingly a nation populated by the supercool with out of this world adventures it makes a profound impression on the global population and succumbs them subliminally to the American dream. Perhaps I'm merely justifying my growing affection for Bollywood however I find it rather disconcerting when desis (South Asians) ridicule their film industry for none other than for not being "realistic" when such a word acquires relative dimensions in the cinematic world. Furthermore owing to the catchy and musicality of South Asian culture Indians films tend to have a particularly elated element to them, as expressed by the frequent outburst into dance and song (the soundtrack and tunes is usually what propels an Indian film to stardom) and in Pakistan Indian songs are the artistic staple for the masses (easily understandable as they are because they are often sung in either colloquial Hindustani or classical Urdu, historically the classical and imperial language of the subcontinent).
Anyway returning to my original point, which was about the Indian film "Amar, Akbar & Anthony". It was a hit of the 60's and featured the Indian stellar cast at them whilst having a reasonably absorbing plot line. A family of three sons and their parents were separated 22 years earlier and each of the sons were adopted by different households. One became a Hindu policeman, the other a Muslim singer and the third a Christian vagabond (indeed this character caught the imagination of India at the time for his mannerisms and propelled the actor, Amitabh Bhachan, to perpetual stardom). The movie was admirable in its intentions by subliminally imparting the message of a fundamental unity of the Indian nation though it does suffer by playing to the traditional Hindu stereotype of the Muslim community as conservative, hypocritical by juggling Islamic puritanism with an indulgence in the Indo-Islamic tradition of courtesans, encumbered by long forgotten imperial traditions and living a static life in the historic districts of the city*.
However what caught my particular interest was a scene where Anthony, the Christian, is interceding with the icon of Christ and begging him to perform a miracle. Needless to say that something miraculous (though explainable) does happen however the scene itself displayed the deep similarity of the Christian and Hindu faiths. Catholicism particularly itself has been so paganised that, had it not been for the negative connotations with imperialism and Western civilisation, it would have easily assimilated into the Hindu landscape. The Indo-European rudiments of the Christian and Hindu religion persist to this day with the trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in itself resembling the creative, destructive and preservative powers of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. In an alternate world history had the Hindus been exposed to monotheism 2000 years hence, perhaps in the form of Zoroastrianism or a Judaism, perhaps we would have seen a religion very similar to Catholicism being practised in the Sub-continent with the sub-stratic pagan imagery providing for a colourful religious landscape, as can be imagined the host of deities demoted to angels and saints. Christianity operates under the rubric of Hellenistic paganism tempered by the austere Semitism of Judaic thought and belief nevertheless perhaps it was the eclectic pagan tolerance that allowed the Christian world, after centuries of religious wars, to accept the permanence of the division in religious beliefs between East and West, North and South.
Islam and Judaism share the similarity of arising in the harsh Semitic landscape whereby trust in trans-tribal authority was a rare commodity and religion itself played a critical role in solidifying key political institutions. Whereas in historically pagan societies the diverse religious beliefs were a mere complement to society and did not serve as a historic unifier for their polities. Christianity travelled on the roads of Rome and more often than not the latter unity of Europe, as justified by various conquerors, was modelled more on the Roman Empire than a Christian Kingdom. Perhaps in India too the unified cultural legacy of the Hindu people often superseded the religious divide of the Brahmanical order. Indeed Hindu was the nomenclature for an inhabitant of the Subcontinent until definition morphed to "those who are not Muslim" and finally with the spread of Christianity it reached its present meaning as one who belongs to an indigenous Indian faith.
*Most Sub-continent cities, such as Delhi, Lucknow, Aligarh trace their medieval origins to Islamic cities, if not to the British, hence the historic core often has a Muslim nawabi feel to it whereas the Hindu population is concentrated in the outlying suburbs Delhi's demacration in this aspect is split between the historic Muslim centre in Delhi and the Hindu\Punjabi population of the south and east suburbs.
Zachary Latif 10:21 |
