Artful dodgers

Karan Johar might finally buy peace with Raj Thackeray for a glitch-free Diwali release of his film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM) in which Pakistani actor Fawad Khan plays a cameo by forking out Rs5 crore. Next in line could be Gauri Shinde for Dear Zindagi starring Ali Zafar that is set for a November 25 release. Shah Rukh Khan should also queue up at Thackeray's doorstep if he doesn't want a ruckus marring the opening-day box office returns of Raees, which has Mahira Khan in the lead.

That patriotism has become a perfect alibi to hold the Hindi film industry to ransom is now on public display. What's also on display is a toothless Maharashtra government allowing a regional party to run amok. In essence, a law-and-order problem that should have been dealt with firmly a long time ago has been allowed to fester for electoral gains. The muscle men of politics have scored again because actors, directors and producers are essentially soft targets with crores riding on their films. Had they put up a united front against fringe elements at the onset of the current crisis, an attention-seeking Thackeray, aided by a TRP-hungry media, wouldn't have gotten this mileage.

Till Anurag Kashyap took to Twitter on October 16, training his gun at the Prime Minister of India, it was business as usual for Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), trying to claw its way back to the reckoning with threats of violence. The maverick director had already upped the ante on October 15, with his provocative tweet expressing solidarity with fellow filmmaker Johar. Kashyap's outburst, channelled in a series of tweets, not only demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his Lahore visit on December 25, but also challenged the "blind fanatics" who believe that "you cannot have a conversation with your PM or question him or expect from him".

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Johar in a 'hostage video' wore his patriotism on the sleeve to pacify MNS cadre. Taking up cudgels on behalf of a fellow filmmaker, Kashyap, who had waged a battle against Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani's high-handedness that had almost stalled the release of his Udta Punjab this June, once again proved to be irrepressible. Soon after Kashyap's diatribe, the industry tried to put up a front of resistance when a delegation led by Film and Television Producers Guild of India president Mukesh Bhatt met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking a smooth release of Johar's film in theatres across the country. Until the fraternity came together, the trolls were out to get Kashyap — often perceived as an exception in the film industry that is otherwise artful at dodging uncomfortable questions and contentious issues.

Fear of backlash

And it's not just Bollywood. Indian personalities, most notably our cricket icons, are infamous for their silence over controversial issues. It's better to be safe than sorry seems to be the strategy since they have a lot — read crores in endorsements — at stake. Which is why a Sachin Tendulkar will never cross the threshold like Muhammad Ali did. Ali's legend wasn't confined to the boxing ring. Whenever thorny issues came his way, the heavyweight champion unfailingly packed a hefty punch, giving a damn about the consequences.

The uncanny silence of our cricket demi-gods when the match-fixing scandal tore into the reputation of the gentleman's game was the most telling example of abdication of responsibilities. Speaking up would have been the most natural thing to do since the very sport that gave them money and fame was witnessing its worst crisis of faith and credibility. In sharp contrast, Kashyap's fusillade is directed at the forces "who solve all our problems by blaming it on movies and banning it". His 140-character ammunition is about protecting the industry, which has, time and again, fallen victim to the games political parties play to pander to their constituencies.

The fear plaguing the cricketing pantheon stalks the film industry too. The consequences of taking a stance can range from being trolled on Twitter and Facebook to receiving death threats and, of course, being stripped of lucrative endorsements. It's easier and definitely more rewarding to lend glamour and heft to social causes like Swachh Bharat and polio eradication than criticising rising intolerance in the country or raising the pitch against communalism. The treatment meted out to Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan has had a chilling effect on Bollywood.

Strangely, in Hollywood, the effects are quite the opposite. When George Clooney courted arrest in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington during a 2012 agitation, his personal stock shot up. For Robert De Niro, it was par for the course when he recently expressed the desire "to punch Donald Trump in the face".

Paying the price of speaking up 

Still, in the last two years, the Hindi film fraternity has shown signs of polarisation with many speaking out. The issue of Pakistani actors working in India has split the entertainment industry down the middle, pitting Kashyap, Johar, Salman Khan and Shyam Benegal against Ajay Devgn, Anupam Kher and others. Though Devgn has refused to share screen space with Pakistani actors, he finds the MNS' call for banning Indian films featuring Pakistani actors "unfair". These days, political beliefs of actors like Kher, whose wife Kirron Kher is a BJP MP, are as much a source of admiration or consternation — depending on which camp one belongs to — as their performances on screen.

Director Shirish Kunder's armchair witticisms on Twitter on virtually everything under the sun have earned him a massive following. Swara Bhaskar of Nil Battey Sannata fame didn't hesitate to declare her support for Nawazuddin Siddiqui when the latter was prevented by MNS thugs from taking part in a Ram Leela show earlier this month. Actor Rishi Kapoor has thrown down the gauntlet several times on Twitter. Remember his proud declaration of being a beef-eating Hindu that attracted admiration and flak in equal measures? Farhan Akhtar had expressed shock over the lynching of a man over beef in Dadri and called for strict action against the guilty.

Mostly, however, pragmatism ends up defeating courage of convictions. Swara is a strong believer in freedom of speech, but she refrains from being judgmental of those who are fence-sitters. "Though silence is akin to complicity, you have to understand the compulsions dictating one's silence," she says. "There is a very real danger to an actor's livelihood when s/he takes a stand. When Aamir joined hands with activist Medha Patkar and protested against the Gujarat government's decision to raise the height of the Narmada dam, his film Fanaa was banned in Gujarat. His intolerance remark cost him the Incredible India campaign and the Snapdeal endorsement."

Swara is concerned about the direction that society is taking. "These are difficult times. It wasn't any different in the UPA regime either. Anybody and everybody can seek a ban on films when 'their sensibilities are offended'."

Actor Shruti Seth's take on Bollywood's reluctance echoes Swara's observations. "The fear of speaking one's mind makes one question the basis of a democracy. These days being a liberal, believing in an egalitarian society is considered a major character flaw. In a situation like this, one just prefers to keep their opinions to themselves and not unnecessarily add to the burden of hate to one's already challenging lives," she says. Her tweet: 'How will banning an "Indian film"(with 1 Pakistani actor) in India & making an "Indian" producer lose money teach Pakistan a lesson?' has made her an easy target of vitriol on social media.

Voice of the common man

Writer Gita Hariharan has an altogether different view of the involvement of public personalities in prickly issues. She had spearheaded the award waapsi initiative, which saw filmmakers Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan close ranks with eminent writers in a time of turmoil. "Why do we need celebrities to speak up every time there is a crisis? What is far more important is to listen to the common man. The media rarely listens to the voiceless, the silent majority of the country."

If there was an award for being the most outspoken cricketer of India, Bishan Singh Bedi would have been the first recipient. Bedi has courted controversies because of his Lochinvar-like gallantry against vested interests. "If you are truly passionate about an issue, you wouldn't lose sleep over the backlash," says the former cricketer. "Imagine Mahatma Gandhi weighing the pros and cons at every step during the freedom movement! It would have taken us another century to finally achieve freedom."

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, the editor of Economic and Political Weekly, offers a nuanced perspective. "There are some public personalities who take definite positions in social, cultural and political matters, and there are others who don't. The ones that don't could be scared, apolitical, stupid or indifferent. It is nothing new about artistes taking a stand either," he says. "One also has to understand that we are seeing an extreme form of Hindutva that is targeting artistes. Any form of art transcends national boundaries and barriers of caste, class and religion. If rabid elements today are assuming centre stage, it is also because a large section of the media is whipping up jingoistic sentiments in the name of nationalism. This is extremely harmful for the society."