In defence of film folk

FREEZE FRAME

G iven its socio-economic significance in India, it would be surprising if the Indian film and entertainment industry did not get enough media or political attention. What is surprising, however, is the kind of scorn and ridiculous contempt it generates.

Whether it's the industry's alleged links with the underworld or the proposed ban on smoking on screen, the cultural and moral guardians are eager to point their fingers at anything 'filmi.' The paparazzi and Page 3 also make film folks out to be law-breakers or weirdos.

There is much that is wrong in the industry. Lack of professionalism and rampant plagiarism, for instance .Yet there is much that it has to be proud of. For years, it's been the world's largest film industry and arguably the only one not to capitulate before the mighty Hollywood.

For decades Indian films and film stars have been India's best-known cultural ambassadors. Every fortnight government delegations from different countries are here to woo Bollywood to come and shoot its films in their land.

The industry has sent over two dozen people to the Parliament. Many ministers and chief ministers have also risen from the studios to walk the hallowed corridors of power.

The industry has dozens of men and women of exceptional talent who have contributed to the nation's art and culture. Why is it then that its negatives always get amplified and the positives hardly acknowledged?

Let's take the underworld nexus. There may have been a handful of film personalities with some tenuous links with the underworld but most others have been 'soft targets' for extortion. A few delinquent film stars do not constitute an entire industry.

If you were to do a head count you would find more MPs with criminal records than film folks. Yet except for some occasional hue and cry over their illegal activities, no one talks about them.

Unfortunately, the ill-organised and ill-informed film industry has never managed to get proper political patronage. In the south where the nexus between films and politics is very clear, there is much less noise about misdemeanor or criminalisation as the dividing line between the two worlds is blurred.

So the cultural police in successive governments competes with assorted activists in damning the entire film fraternity at the slightest opportunity. For them, there is no distinction between an accident and a lapse. And in this age of instant messaging and sting operations, film people are indeed interesting targets.

It is not surprising then that our health minister decided to invoke an uncalled for, unilateral ban on smoking on screen more out of his political vendetta against matinee idol Rajnikant than for any genuine health concern (and pray, why doesn't he black out the khaini chewing Lalu Yadav from TV screens).

But I also hold the film industry partly responsible for its soiled image. At most times its representatives are inarticulate bumbling fools or cowering sycophants.

Semi- literate nymphets and brash brats damage the image of the industry which some of its more responsible peers are struggling to rescue. A few rotten fish must not be allowed to sully the entire ocean.

The author is chairman of Reliance Entertainment. The views expressed here are personal.