TERROR TACTICS: The other recent films on terrorism

Once, a Hindi film villain wore pointed shoes and drank Vat 69. These days, his face is covered, and he carries a Kalashnikov. Bollywood’s villain is as menacing as the real life terrorist wreaking havoc out on the streets.

As the country reels under bomb blasts — from Delhi and Ahmedabad to Varanasi and Bangalore — Bollywood is staggering under a mountain of films all dealing with terrorism. Last week saw the release of two such films — Mumbai Meri Jaan and Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam. Two more films — Hijack and A Wednesday — are slated for release next Friday. The violent militant is to Bollywood today what the black marketer or the landlord was in the fifties, or the smuggler in the seventies.

“Terrorism has slowly and steadily crept into our society,” says director-producer Mahesh Bhatt, whose film Dhoka, dealing with a suicide bomber and an honest cop, was released last year.

Of course, terrorists have been cinematic protagonists — villains and even heroes — for over 15 years. From Mani Ratnam’s Roja and Dil Se, Gulzar’s Maachis, Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday, Subhash Ghai’s Black & White and Rohit Shetty’s Zameen to Kunal Kohli’s Fanaa and Rajkumar Gupta’s Aamir — terrorism has been the theme or subtext of a spate of films. Khalid Mohamed’s Fiza dealt with the issue, as did Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir, John Mathew Mathan’s Sarfarosh, Kabir Khan’s Kabul Express, Shoojit Sircar’s Yahaan and Mani Shankar’s 16 December. It is also the focus of Tanuja Chandra’s yet to be released film Hope and a Little Sugar.

Yet the release of four films in a span of two weeks indicates that the issue is far from dying out. On the contrary, as real life bombings continue to hit the headlines, Bollywood is spewing more such films that seek to reflect a slice of real life. And cinema’s terrorist today is no longer a one-dimensional figure out on a bloody spree.

“From the bearded Muslim terrorist who could readily be associated with bomb blasts, our understanding of terrorists has become more complicated,” says film-maker and academic Shohini Ghosh. “Films such as Fanaa or Pukar have demonstrated that, contrary to the idea of terrorists merely being enemies from outside the nation, it is also possible for the enemy to be within,” says Ghosh, reader at the media centre at New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia.

Clearly, Bollywood sees terrorism as a subject that can be viewed through the many sides of a prism. “That is because the terrorist is a figure of curiosity,” reasons Bhagwan Josh, a cultural and social historian at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. “The image of a terrorist has long been veiled in mystery — and as civilians, we continue to ask questions such as who they are, what they do and why they become terrorists in the first place. And this public curiosity is what cinema continues to cash in on.”

Since terrorism is a global issue, a lot of new cinema has also been looking at events across the world. Jagmohan Mundhra’s recent film Shoot on Sight, for instance, was based on the London blasts of 2005. The writer of Contract, a Ram Gopal Varma film released in July, borrowed an idea from Palestinian terror groups which would bomb hospitals soon after setting off a bomb in a city — tactics followed by terrorists in the Gujarat bombings last month.

For some directors, the issue is too real — and immediate — to be ignored. Neeraj Pandey, the director of A Wednesday, says he decided to shoot a film on terrorism because of the harrowing stories that he had heard on the subject from people he knew. “Many of my acquaintances who suffered terrifying bomb blast experiences have not yet been able to recoup in their life. I have seen their miseries from very close. And the subject is pretty exciting for a film-maker,” he says.

Black Friday too dealt with the immediate — and backyard — reality. Anurag Kashyap’s film was based on Mumbai journalist S. Hussain Zaidi’s book on the 1993 serial blasts in the city which followed widespread communal riots. The film relied heavily on Zaidi’s three-year research, which infused in its hard-hitting theme a dose of realism. “The film was used to document what exactly happened then. There was no comment made through the film,” says Kashyap.

Experts believe that the Hindi film industry, which thrives on the underdog, also looks at terrorism as an area where justice has been denied. “Some films have tried to show that terrorism is often brought on as a result of the state’s utter disrespect for non-violent protest,” says Ghosh. “They have certainly tried to show how democracy has failed its citizens, spurring them towards violence, and that is perhaps the reason why the image of the terrorist has undergone a change with time.”

In some circles, of course, there is a fear that the films may end up glorifying terrorism — and Bollywood, after all, has always been flag waving in its patriotic fervour. Actor-director Aamir Khan, who acted in Fanaa and Sarfarosh, does not see cinema as showcasing terrorism. “If one shows violence on the silver screen, it does not purport to promote terrorism.” Khan, in fact, believes that such films can actually reverse the trend of violence. “Terrorists and even common people can change their views on terrorism and have a change of heart by watching movies,” he argues. “Terrorists can easily stop killing people when they watch good films on the subject.”

Shonali Bose, the director of Amu, agrees. “These movies carry a strong message right across the heart and soul of human beings. They also promote love and affection among the human race and make them think twice about getting involved in unwanted violence,” she says.

Mahesh Bhatt, however, is not convinced. “As such, films fail to create any negative or positive impact on people who are terrorists,” he says.

But it seems that while film-makers are zeroing in on terrorism as a subject, viewers are not all that happy. While Mumbai Meri Jaan opened to good reviews, not many of the other films have done well at the box office. Shoot On Sight bombed. Dil Se flopped, as did Kabul Express and Yahaan. Contract, Black Friday, Black & White, 16 December and Fiza did not have a good run. The only films that did well at the box office — such as Fanaa, Sarfarosh and Main Hoon Naa — were those which starred big names, or where a love story overwhelmed the terrorist angle.

“Audiences expect bloodshed in a film on terrorism and tend to stay away — unless they get to know that the film is good,” says trade analyst Atul Mohan from Complete Cinema, a film buff’s guide.

That could be the reason Shiney Ahuja, who acts in Hijack — based on the Kandahar incident of 1999 — is not promoting his film as yet another project based on terrorism. “A film like Hijack should be seen by people to understand how to react when they are caught in the midst of a real life hijack. It can happen to anyone. Moreover, Hijack does not just talk about terrorism. It’s a film about love and relationships too,” says the actor.

Ahuja’s description of Hijack indicates that terrorism may not work for long as an enduring theme in Hindi films. But till a new text grips the cinema industry, the terrorist rules.