<b>Shuma Raha:</b> Meryl's moment

After Streep's speech, Trump hit out at her with his usual hair-trigger petulance

“Forgive me, I have lost my voice,” said Meryl Streep in a broken whisper as she began her acceptance speech for the award for lifetime achievement at the Golden Globes in Hollywood last week. In the event, though, she delivered one of the most ringing indictments of the bigotry and abuse unleashed by Donald Trump during his campaign for the US presidency. Her speech, which went viral at once, was both powerful and moving, pointing as it did to the dangers of bullying from those on high.

Without naming the US President-elect, the actress referred to an incident last year where he had mocked a disabled reporter — an incident which Mr Trump has since denied. “It kind of broke my heart when I saw it and I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie, it was real life,” said Ms Streep. “This instinct to humiliate when it’s modelled… by someone powerful, it filters down into everyone’s life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same.”

Ms Streep also described Hollywood as a crucible of art created by people from all over the world, people of different ethnicities, and wondered where it would be if “we kick ’em all out”. It was yet another stinging rebuke of Mr Trump and the rhetoric of nativism and xenophobia with which he rode to power. 

The moral authority, the essential rightness, of what Ms Streep had to say was indubitable. Not surprisingly, here in India many wondered if Bollywood stars could ever do a Streep. Whether, amidst the inane — and often asinine — patter from megawatt celebs who don the role of hosts on film awards nights, someone would screw up the courage to denounce the culture of intolerance and bigotry sweeping through the country. 

Well, it doesn’t seem very likely right now. Look at the response to the orchestrated ire against Pakistani artistes working in Bollywood in the aftermath of the Uri terror attack last year. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena threatened to block the release of Karan Johar’s film, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, because it featured Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. Mr Thackeray thundered that Shah Rukh Khan’s film Raees, starring Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, would suffer the same fate, while strident television anchors frothed at the mouth and railed incessantly in support of a ban on all Pakistani artistes working in Bollywood.  

So did the film fraternity come together to resist the organised bullying in the name of solidarity with our soldiers dying at the hands of Pakistan-backed terrorists? 

Not at all. Barring a few like Salman Khan or Om Puri (who passed away this month), nearly every Bollywood biggie who cared to comment on the issue joined the “nationalist” chorus rather than support their fellow artistes from Pakistan. Karan Johar declared that he would not work with them in future. Last month Shah Rukh met Raj Thackeray and presumably gave him whatever assurances that were needed to ensure the smooth release of Raees.

Yet there was a time in 2015 when Bollywood A-listers did speak out against the rising tide of fanaticism in Indian society. After the Dadri lynching and the murderous hysteria over beef, both Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan criticised the culture of intolerance that seemed to have overtaken the country. They were abused viciously by social media trolls for their pains, with BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya even saying that Shah Rukh’s soul resided in Pakistan. The fury against Aamir’s comments was such that it allegedly led to e-commerce giant Snapdeal not renewing his contract as its brand ambassador.

Today, though, capitulation rather than critique is the name of the game as far as Bollywood celebrities are concerned. Or perhaps zealotry is now so much a part of the “new normal” — a handy euphemism for shifting ideals — that they have simply decided to go with the flow. 

But let’s not judge our stars too harshly. Let’s remember that in India celebrities who go against the grain are always under the threat of a furious backlash. At the mere hint of a controversial comment, or indeed, a controversial film, the violent culture police, aided and abetted by political groups, can turn out in hordes and block the release of a movie altogether. The retribution is real and on the ground and it hits the film industry where it hurts — its business. Aamir Khan’s 2006 film Fanaa was not allowed to be released in BJP-ruled Gujarat because he supported the anti-Narmada dam activists. And that’s just one among scores of similar examples.

After Meryl Streep’s brave speech, Mr Trump took to Twitter to hit out at her with his usual hair-trigger petulance. He called the three-time Oscar winner an “over-rated” actress and a “Hillary flunky who lost big”. 

The President-elect, who lets loose an avalanche of invective against his critics on Twitter, usually threatens them with “consequences” too. The question is, if Hollywood suffers the consequences of standing up to Mr Trump in the coming days, will it continue to call out the culture of hate he may have spawned? Or will it, like our Bollywood stars, lapse into silence?

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