Bollywood movies have had impact on eminent personalities over the years, making them resemble certain characters, India-born British economist Meghnad Desai says.
"Narendra Modi is a 'Dabangg' (bold) hero. Every time he speaks, it feels like he is going to kick somebody. He is definitely dabangg and we need dabangg types of leadership in our country," Desai said at a session at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.
Desai believes that it is cinema's influence over the past decades which have made real life personalities resemble reel life personalities, though it should be the other way round.
"The movies in 1970s used to have an angry young man for sure. In the movies that we have today, I often see people wondering where has the angry young man gone," Desai said.
"My answer to them is, the angry young man of 1970s has reached the public and has stayed with them in the domestic context in the recent years and now it is transforming into personalities like Arvind Kejriwal," he said.
"Arvind Kejriwal is definitely the angry young man of a 1970s movie. Zamana (society) was against them and still, only the angry young man could solve all the problems in few hours. That's exactly what's happening," he said.
Desai was in conversation with novelist and professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco, Vamsee Juluri and Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan during a session titled 'Bollywood Nation'.
Vamsee, the son of Telugu actress Jamuna, said he has witnessed the amalgation and conflicts of cinema and politics from close quarters when his mother joined politics.
"We cannot deny that it's Bollywood which has kept Gandhi alive rather than the political institutions themselves." However, Khan said it is Indian cinema which has led to these conflicts.
"Our cinema has always acted like a sleeping pill which either doesn't show the reality and even if it does, it establishes the problems rather than giving any solution or motivating the audience to challenge the system," he said.
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