VISITOR COLUMN

William Dalrymple (famous for his books on world history) recently in an interview pointed out the whole world is portraying Islam as a violent religion which is totally opposite to historical facts. The US and Europe have screwed up the whole Middle East to meet/ suit their energy security.

Having said that, my impression of Viswaroopam (based on comments from contacts in Malaysia and US) is that the movie pivots around the very topic - paints a balanced picture of what's happening/happened in Afghanistan in the name of War against Terror. One of the movie goers (non-Muslim) commented that at one point during the movie, he could even sympathize with the terrorists.

I presume the movie if seen with an open mind will really be an eye-opener for those who paint all Muslims as terrorists; and may even try to explore the angst behind their violent means. But what is the need of the hour is tolerance; not just tolerance on the part of the majority to accommodate the insecurities of the minority; but also tolerance from the minority to be open for introspection and criticism which should be countered only through logical reasoning and not raking up cries and veiled threats of social disharmony

Kamal Haasan is the only actor who is criticized by Muslims for being anti-minority, by Hindus for desecrating Hindu scriptures/religion (Hey ram, Dasavatharam), caste-ists for incorrect representations (Devar Magan, Sandiyar), feminists for being anti-women (Manmadhan Ambu) and movie-goers in general for making movies which are incomprehensible.

But Kamal has to be blamed for all this mess! It’s really stupid on his part to expect us to be rational and open minded. He still hasn’t learnt his lessons from Guna, Anbe Sivam, etc. He doesn’t realize that no matter how much you exhibit rave traits – be it cinematic professionalism, linguistic versatility, cultural modernism and social commitments to the extent of even donating your very body – people will only care about your vices – which actress you kissed in your movies, which lady you’re sleeping with, the controversial premise of your next film – so that they can oil their guns and aim for your head. You know why? Because this is a society which doesn’t want Change. This society hates change and hates those who make them wake up and smell the rot. Any radical thought that questions the established ‘social harmony’ is termed as ‘hurting sentiments’. We are happy with centuries of rotten socio-political systems, and are content to continue stew in our own filth. So, please stop making/ writing movies which question our beliefs. We are just as happy with our feel-good dreamy world of romantic duets by the Alps, tear jerking saas-bahu sentiments and action-packed mass heroisms. Thank you KH! You may please pack your bags and leave! The flight to Hollywood leaves shortly!!