Terrorism Tales From Bollywood

On Sept. 11, 2001, the entire world witnessed the horrors of global terrorism. Now, thousands of miles away in India, Bollywood has taken to churning out films dealing with terrorism in the United States.

Bollywood's latest offerings on the subject include Kabir Khan's Bollywood blockbuster "New York" (2009) and Renzil D'Silva's box office disaster "Kurbaan" (2009), both filmed mainly in the United States. In a few weeks, Karan JoharKaran Johar will also release his film, "My Name Is Khan", starring "the King of Bollywood" Shahrukh KhanShahrukh Khan as a man suffering from Asperger syndrome in post-9/11 America.

Let's back-track a bit, though. Back in the ‘90s and early 2000, the focus of most Hindi films -- including Ashutosh Gowarikar's "Baazi" (1995), Deepa MehtaDeepa Mehta's "Earth" (1998), John Mathew Matthan's "Sarfarosh" (1999), Veeru DevganVeeru Devgan's "Hindustan Ki Kasam" (1999), Vidhu Vinod Chopra's "Mission Kashmir" (2000), Khalid Mohamed's "Fiza" (2000) and Rajkumar SantoshiSantoshi's "Pukar" (2000) -- dealt with the subject of terrorism within India. UpendraUpendra Sidhaye, co-writer of the critically acclaimed film "Mumbai Meri Jaan" (2008), says he thinks terrorism in Kashmir in the late ‘80s and Rajiv GandhiRajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 brought terrorism to the forefront, followed by the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, resulting in communal riots and serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993.

"All of this shook common man and filmmakers equally," said Sidhaye. "It also created a new genre for Indian filmmakers. A filmmaker like Mani RatnamMani Ratnam who obviously has ‘something to say' apart from entertaining the audience took due notice and expressed himself in films like "RojaRoja" (1992), "Bombay" (1995) and "Dil Se" (1998)."

Later, Hindi filmmakers also explored Hindu-Muslim communal violence and religious riots induced terrorism in films including Anil Sharma's "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha" (2001), Chandra Prakash Dwivedi's "Pinjar" (2003), Govind Nihalani's "Dev" (2004), and Rahul Dholakia's "Parzania" (2005).

But, the big question is: Why so many films exploring the same overall subject. Sidhaye calls attention to Bollywood's formula film mindset.

"After one hit film everyone wants to copy that formula, so we witnessed a surge in typical formula-ridden films about terrorism," he said. In Hollywood, films on terrorism are much well-studied, authentic, layered and engaging. At least they are trying to explore various facets of the issue. But in the Hindi film industry, it's more of a fad."

Director and cinematographer Santosh Sivan suggests, "Terrorism is something you hear about in the media so frequently so it puzzles you, so I guess you want to do something without graphically sensationalizing it, like the films I have made, "The Terrorist" (1999) and "Tahaan" (2008)."

Apoorva Lakhia, who has written and directed several Bollywood films including "Mission Istaanbul" (2008), concurs. "Often people are inspired by the events that surround them," Lakhia said. "Terrorism is a focal point in the world right now and a lot of stories cover it in the media and in print. However, the main trend in the industry is still that of light hearted comedies and love stories, and that will never change."

Interestingly enough, out of the 50-plus films on the subject, only a handful have done well at the box office.

"Too much of anything is bad, and so a lot of these films are failing at the box office," said Syed Abid, a Bollywood trade expert who writes for various Bollywood Web sites, including Glamsham.com and Bollyvista.com.

Besides the lack of adding a new dimension to the subject, another is Bollywood's clichéd portrayal of Muslims.

"The problem lies in portraying Muslims as either black or white," Sidhaye said. "So initially all terrorists in a film used to be Muslim fanatics. The portrayal is a bit clichéd due to most Indians facing terrorism sponsored by Pakistan. There are other terrorist outfits in India like Ulfa, Naxals, LTTE, but their movement has nothing to do with religion. They are mostly topical and don't get as much publicity as the Lashar-e-Taiba get."

But Lakhia says otherwise, "If you look at all the characters in these genre of films there will always be a positive Muslim character. We live in India and have a large Muslim viewership and also have a lot of Muslims friends, so we will not put them in bad light. A film like "Mission Istaanbul" too had Vivek Oberoi playing a positive Muslim character."

Sidhaye disagrees, though, "Films have added one Muslim character who is moderate and who doesn't justify killing for jihad. But this character is either a young Muslim in his/her 20s or an old Muslim in his 60s -- nothing in between -- and he would sacrifice his life for the cause of humanity. This has also become a cliché."

Sidhaye's own film, "Mumbai Meri Jaan," also used the July 11, 2006 bomb blasts in Mumbai's suburban trains as a backdrop. However, the film won a lot of recognition for looking at terrorism from the perspective of common citizens.

By 2009, two terrorism films were being set in the United States. Why the shift? Perhaps it's an attempt for masala filmmakers to prove they can make something more "serious."

"It has much to do with the U.S. than India," Sidhaye said. "It's not 9/11 but the aftereffects of 9/11. Our rich filmmakers roam in the U.S. more than in India. So they are inspired by the impact of terrorism in United States."

Although "New York" was a box office hit, partially because it was released after the long producers strike, "Kurbaan" didn't do well despite big names such as Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and producer Karan Johar being attached to the project.

"The failure of latest Hindi flick "Kurbaan" is not just because of its flawed storytelling but also because audience don't want to see anything about terrorism now," Sidhaye said. "This has already happened with some topics such as dowry, corruption, police force. It seems that the whole subject has been saturated by filmmakers. All films about terrorism have started looking same and telling the same stories and giving the same message. It tells nothing new from the point of view of storytelling."