The 'Kabali' festival and why some things don't need to be analysed

Everyone is surprised with the hysteria around the film Kabali. There are fans who turned up in T-shirts, make-up, and placards demonstrating their allegiance to Rajinikanth. Fans who applied for leave and showed up before dawn to catch the first day first show. Fans who caught flights to Chennai to watch the movie in the land of Rajinikanth.

Some are left wondering and trying to analyse the phenomenon. Many find it ridiculous. Some rationalise the ridicule as something about the movie being lousy or the actor not demonstrating his youth and charisma as his earlier movies. So there is rationale, there is amusement and then there is adoration. How do you account for this in a single populace, known for being paragons of self-regulation and sobriety?

Let's take a step back. How would you describe Holi as a festival to someone who does not know anything about Indian culture? I guess you would call it a festival where friends get together and throw colour on each other. Then of course, depending on your own preference, you might add the role of alcohol or other, shall we say, mood enhancing substances. 

As far as I can tell, there are two type of people; people who love playing Holi and boring people. I used to love Holi, but crossed over to the boring side, many years back. Sometimes, I do wish I could cross back. For some, Holi might be construed as a rather tedious or even perilous affair, but perhaps madness, might be a common descriptor. Disclaimer: I love Holi and love watching people play it from the safe confines of my house. 

Now let's make this a bit more interesting. Do you love sport, say cricket? Do you love it to the extent that if India was facing Pakistan, you would go to the stadium? Would you wear the Indian Team blue colour? Would you even paint your face? Would you be ok, if someone painted their face in the colours of the flag? Now, will you spend an entire day in the stadium? Would you scream and shout? Even if you're just watching the game at home, would you be emotionally involved in the game? The chances are, if you love cricket, the answer is yes. 

Even though it is just a game where a bowler hurls an animal leather sphere at three wooden stumps, which are protected by a batsman who uses a willow wood to protect the stumps, and in the process score a run, by dashing across twenty-two yards. It is just a silly game. Disclaimer: Even though it is just a game, I woke up at 4 am to watch the Boxing Day Test and stayed awake for most of the Euro Championships. 

The India-Pakistan games have an additional interesting nuance. Usually, the roads are empty and the politics of India and Pakistan tend to seep into the cricket field. Even when there is absolutely no correlation or endorsement from either side. The players just enjoy the intensity of the game and the challenge it poses. The spectators bring in aspects of the politics. The game becomes a proxy for our political disagreements. 

Now let's take something as inane as food. Some may find consuming honey-coated cockroaches as disgusting. Some may love the glow after consuming organic products. Some find consuming dairy products immoral. Others some may find divinity in the offering of alcohol or animals to someone they worship. Disclaimer: I really enjoy those egg rolls you get in Kolkata. 

Films, festivals, sports; everything starts taking another dimension. Us and them. Before you know it, it is about ridiculing and name-calling.

So why is it that we find something divine and something ridiculous or even immoral. 

Jonathan Haidt, talks about this concept in his book The Righteous Minds – Why good people are divided by Politics and Religion divides us. 

What makes something moral or acceptable and fun? What makes something immoral, unacceptable and not fun at all? It is interesting to study how our minds evaluate the social spaces we see around us. 

The first axis of morality is closeness. People who are close to us and people who are further away from us. This is where individuals started forming social bonds of teams and tribes.  To strengthen our position, we started developing symbols such as flags, words (slogans), and events. For example, I wear a turban to indicate my loyalty to a tribe. Tribes were meant to bind us to fight an external threat. Friends were seen as being close and enemies are farther down the axis. We put a certain distance between ourselves and our enemies. Even though both Sun Tzu and more recently Don Corleone or 'The Godfather' asked you to keep your enemies closer. Our enemies could be competitors or someone who just differs from us in ideology. 

The second axis is of hierarchy: Our minds evaluate hierarchy. We have people who we consider our seniors, and some who are below us. For example, parents, teachers, bosses are higher up and others lower than us. Therefore they become our role models. We mimic them. The people below us in the social hierarchy mimic us. 

The first two axes are easy to understand. Now the third axis is a bit difficult to see and observe the effect it has on our behaviours. 

The third axis is that of divinity: In many social structures, we take God to be at the top and the devil or demons at the bottom. Besides the religious definition, divinity is additionally seen in the light of virtues and good deeds. 

Hence we have saints, prophets, spiritual leaders, who we revere and are influenced by their teachings and perhaps even commands. 

Then of course you have Sachin Tendulkar and Rajinikanth, who enjoy near-God status, but only for their fans. What might be God for us, might not be God for someone else. 

Therefore what happens when someone rejects or insults our gods? 

First, we try rationale or judge for divinity. In a recent video ridiculing Sachin Tendulkar, the rationale was that the humour was not of great quality, hence we were disgusted by it. Similarly, we have people saying Rajnikanth has aged or why is he acting like a thirty-year old? 

If we are omnivores, we might reject the concept of vegetarians as someone restricting our own values, therefore they are bad or evil. If we love alcohol or are permissive enough to visit dance bars, naughty websites, and other naughty locales, then we might find the prohibition of it as offensive, illogical and perhaps even oppressive and disgusting. 

Second, we push it away.  Disgust is an evolutionary response. When we are about to consume a potentially harmful fruit, our body senses the fragrance, colour, or texture and prevents us from consuming it. Even if you do consume it and if the body did not agree with it, it would repel it. 

We do the same thing with our social structures. If something does not appeal to our senses, or our personal definitions of morality, we tend to expel them from our presence. We might ridicule it by using humour, we might decide not to participate in it, or even if we participate in it, we will be looking for evidence that states our point. 

As Haidt calls is, “Morality binds and blinds”.

Third, confirmation bias takes over. We look for evidence to prove that we are right. We read newspaper articles and social feeds that supports our views. While we are wired to form bonds, we are also hardwired to be blind towards evidence that speaks against our strongly held beliefs and values.

For example, if you are looking for evidence that prohibition that does not work, you might look at certain states and claim that the black market for alcohol continues to flourish. We might not evaluate it against social indicators of relative health in the vulnerable strata, alcohol related indebtedness, and alcohol related domestic or civic violence. The emerging evidence in the states of Kerala and Bihar, that women voted in favour of prohibition, does ring in some truth of the social issues related to alcohol. Disclaimer: I continue to enjoy an occasional glass of champagne. 

Now coming back to Kabali and Rajnikanth. I think Kabali released all the supreme emotions of positivity. At first, I just could not understand it. I was amused and ready to reject it as just blind hero-worship and an effective marketing machine. 

Then the first and second axes kicked in. Very close friends from all over the world, showed up at theatres. Friends who were serious minded executives were celebrating the festival of Kabali. Without warning, but with pleasant surprise, I might add, it was as if a connection was formed. It was a moment for them to connect with their broader tribe. Is there a happier and more touching moment when two people make a connection? You can imagine the unimaginable combination of oxytocin and adrenaline flowing through the theatre. It was the power of anticipation and savouring the anticipation. It was even the nostalgia of going back home to Chennai. Sitting in Los Angeles, Sion, and Japan, your superhero took you on an auto-ride through the streets of Chennai and Kuala Lampur. Ah the joys of vicarious pleasure. 

Just as we would celebrate Holi or dance on the streets in Ganesh Chaturthi, or walk up miles in devout piety, for a momentary connection we call a darshan. I joined the tribe. My friends, without uttering a word to me, made me join them in their frivolity and celebrated Kabali. 

Bertolt Brecht in his book The Life of Galileo writes about Andrea and Galileo in a passage. 
Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero.
Galileo: No, Andrea, unhappy is the land that needs a hero.

I am of the school of thought that we need heroes. Leave the movie alone. Leave the rational and righteous mind behind. It was three hours of joyous celebration. It was nostalgia. It was happiness. 

It was the first axis of the us. It was an opportunity for people to form bonds. It was the second axis that melted into one hierarchy. For a moment of three hours, there was only one divinity. Kabali. 

Rajinikanth is only an instrument and he knows it. I have never had the good fortune to meet the man, but I personally think he has the humility to not be overcome with his power or superpower status. Therefore he needs no make up or transplants to hide his real life persona. He shows his personal physical frailties. He is happy to be an entertainer. He shows up; acts as best as he possible can and walks away. 

Sometimes there is joy in doing something that you know is silly. There is innocence to be found in being a target of a malicious water balloon. There is the accomplishment of dodging away from a balloon to the mock agony of being hit by the next one. There is joy in the spontaneity of dancing in the streets with strangers. There is a joy in throwing coins and jumping on stage. 

Don’t ask for the rationale. Join in. Find your own meaning. Meanwhile, I cant wait the next installment. It is the festival of Kabali!

Final disclaimer. I have not seen the movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, through the eyes of my friends!

The author is the Founder of The Positivity Company, where he helps business leaders become more positive and productive.