From Mumbai …… with Love? by Sohail Parwaz

First premise: All Christians believe in God. Second premise: All Muslims believe in God. Conclusion: All Christians are Muslims. This is rather an extreme but certainly ideal example of abusing logic and drawing a biased conclusion from perfectly correct premises. People do make logical mistakes and the conclusion drawn from the premises given here is also the same type of muddle, but with the difference that it is a deliberate one. An innocent mind would always forget that the propagandists deliberately manipulate logic in order to promote their cause. May that be a film or an event. Not a single propaganda film in the world has been produced to date that does not base itself on the aphorism that "Everything is fair in love and war". The comedy of errors is that every propaganda movie maker allows himself licence to abuse logic.

Dean Devlin, a renowned Hollywood writer and producer and maker of Independence Day, while talking to the Pentagon swanked: "If this doesn't make every boy in the country want to fly a fighter jet, I'll eat this script." A Disney executive involved in the making of Armageddon proffered an assurance to the war veterans of the US army that it was going to be the biggest flick of 1998. Well these were not the only movies. There were many other films which were given military cooperation after ensuring their acceptability. Air Force One, A Few Good Men, From Here to Eternity, The Hunt for Red October, Pearl Harbor, Apollo 13, and Tora Tora Tora are just a few in this category.

With every passing day, the actual theme behind the 9/11 plot is becoming clearer. By the time Americans and the rest of the world would come to know who the real beneficiary of the ripened fruit of the twin towers was, it would already be too late. Bushites had already managed to swing the results of the most controversial elections of American history in their favour. I must consider them real innocent folks who would think even for a moment that the screening of a cable movie titled DC 9/11: Time of Crisis on Viacom's movie channel ‘Showtime' on September 7, 2004, was just an accident. Those who happened to see that movie would bear me out that it was a made-for-TV movie likely to draw most viewers' attention to the possibility that the time had come. The Bush administration had a convincing reason to turn to Hollywood to salvage the president's declining popularity. Their pre-emptive strike took the form of a movie packaged to remake the historical record of the 9/11 attacks and re-elect Bush simultaneously. How strong is the propaganda?

Well it was proved during the first Iraq war, about which even the Americans say that though it was won in Iraq, it was undoubtedly fought in the CNN studios. When the CIA in the mid-1990s attempted to appear more open and began offering consultations and research assistance, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India also started the same programme, but with different sources of financing and agenda. Its main purpose was to attack from all the four sides. The nostalgia of Indian movies of the fifties and sixties is still fresh with many of us. The aromatic romance of Bhai Bhai, Awara, Anari and Barsaat is still unsullied. Can anybody recall perceiving any religious hatred, prejudice, intolerance and anger against Pakistan in those simple and slow black and white movies? Certainly not, but now all these evils have sneaked into Bollywood's colour productions, slowly but surely, through the back doors. Soon after the fall of East Pakistan in 1971, it became a fashion and a particular lobby devoted its wholehearted efforts only to this mission.

In the decade of the 70s, it was just a low tune opus against Islam and Muslims only. But before long it turned into a loud symphony against the ideology of Pakistan, Islam, defence echelons and Kashmir quandaries. In the mid-nineties, Bollywood crossed every limit. It appeared that the studios in the surroundings of Bandra, Juhu, Worli and Andheri were running out of subjects. Hina, Roja and Bombay became the weapons of this ‘crusade' on the cultural front. The silence of the Indian government encouraged these adamant elements in Bollywood. What used to be talked about covertly was now shot and screened overtly. In a very idiotic and silly way, the Muslims were shown managing the underworld gangs and mafias while the top brass of Pakistan was shown passing highest precedence orders directly to the third rate sources and agents operating deep inside India. Thanks to the cellular industry which made this Utopian "handler-agent" interaction possible and easy for the Bollywood filmmakers.

Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of the worst that had yet to come. The Kashmiri freedom movement was picking up momentum every day. Inventive Indian minds decided to cash in on international events. The tragic incident of 9/11 was fresh in the minds and hence no other opportunity could have been better than this one. Suddenly the Kashmiris were shown as inhuman terrorists and psychopaths. The Kashmiris were described as animals instead of human beings. The viewers were forced to believe that the just struggle of Kashmiri freedom is terrorism and not a war of deliverance. The tempo of this anti-Pakistan celluloid campaign gained paced slowly but surely. By the end of the century it was at its peak. The successors of Dada Sahib Phalikay and Ird Sher Irani literally maligned the names of their predecessors. An industry which had motion pictures like Alam Ara, Anarkali, Amrit and Admi to its credit has now made it its religious duty to fill the market with venomous trash like Maan Tujhay Salam, Hindustan ki Qasam, The Hero, Dewaar, Sheen, Dressing Room, Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya, Dil Jalay, Dev, Agni Punkh, Zameen, Pukkar, Refugee, Sarfrosh and many more. It has now become a fashion to whack Pakistan, and disparage her armed forces. The Bollywood producers are now making heavy budget movies. The producer of Border, J. P. Dutta has become a VIP overnight. He was begged to cancel his English tour and make another pathetic movie LOC Kargil, which is nothing more than a distortion of historical facts, and an effort not only to fabricate the war account but also to humiliate the neighbouring country's soldiers through cheap dialogues. Honestly speaking, to me it seems to be a never ending story.

Interestingly, the budget of these trash type productions ranged between Rupees 350 million to 450 million. Can anyone tell me who on earth would like to spend a big portion of his hard earned money on such non-commercial, non-formula, dry and so-called patriotic filth? The tragedy is that Kautiliya's followers with candles in their hands are desperate for peace in the region, but with daggers up sleeves. They haven't backed off an inch from this venomous campaign to degrade Pakistan. The only change we could see with the change of century was the change of strategy. Mud-slinging was now replaced by carefully drafted dialogues. After Maen Hoon Na, Yash Chopra's 300 million release, Veer-Zara was yet another example of changed strategy, where the hidden hands didn't lose their concentration and succeeded in not drifting away from their "national objectives".

This silver screen war didn't die as far as India is concerned. Recently few more movies are screened, again following old strategy. To name few are, Shoot at Sight, Black & White and most noteworthy is, A Wednesday. If one watches the movie carefully it would suggest that either the recent Mumbai incident was planned after watching this movie or this movie was made as a forewarning for the Mumbaites. Since it is for sure that the movie was produced just before the November 26, 2008 incident however the screening timings and the Mumbai incident both happened almost at the same time hence one can conveniently say that the latter theory sounds more logical. Those who have watched Bollywood's recent releases must take a deep look inside to discover that the Indian nationalist filmmakers' blitz against Pakistan on all the aforementioned fronts is still on.

The Yudh (holy war) that started during the radical BJP's tenure is still going on with a relatively moderate Congress government in office. I am failed to conceive the idea of having a peace process between the two countries, especially when the Indian filmmakers are walking with a high pace on Track 3. We all know that war and love have the same rules of fairness. Knowing that, when I look towards the battlefield Lollywood, I hear just one shriek, "Hold your fire...Hold your fire!" while on the Indian side a loud but sarcastic shout is heard that, "Yeah end n'hee hae, Picture ubhi baqi hae meray dost (This is not the end, Picture is still being screened)".