“par iske ammi abbu ko dhoondoge
kaise?”
-Bajrang
Bali hai na.. maded karenge
“Pakistan mein?!” (laughs)
(But how
will you find her parents?
-Bajrang Bali
is there... He will guide me
"even in Pakistan?!" (laughs)
Does Bajrang Bali bestow His blessings only
in Hindustan ? Does a Hindu God have an existence outside India? What does it
mean when one says ,’ a Hindu God’ or ‘a Muslim God’ or a ‘Christian God’! God, by very definition means a Supreme
Being that is not localized but is present everywhere (omnipresence). Therefore, the term ‘ a Hindu God’ is
itself contradictory as it suggests a Supreme Being is limited to a
geographical location. If so, then God is no longer “supreme”
This is not a lecture of Philosophy 101. This is the essence of a mainstream
commercial and second highest grossing India film (at the time) “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”. This is not a character sketch of the
protagonist Salman Khan that praises him to the stars. This is essentially about the underlying
themes the movie touches upon and what was in the main theme that connected
with the audience so well.
The megacities of Delhi and Lahore are
like two estranged lovers of historical past whose love affair ended in tragedy
.But still, there is a little bit of Lahore
in Delhi and a little bit of Delhi in Lahore! This is exemplified by Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express blazing across in
the opening scenes of the movie. I am reminded of my (hindu) grandfather who used to visit his village
on the other side of the border before 1947. En route, he used to halt in the city of
Lahore which he describes as the biggest city he had seen till then, “even
bigger than Delhi”. Even after 71 years, he speaks fondly of Anarkali Market, the Noor Jahan Tomb and the
Lawrence Gardens in the city of Lahore. Lahore of yesteryears still exists in his mind afresh.
Maybe you are reading this probably on
your phone , caught in the traffic or waiting in a long queue in Mc Donald's .
You logged into facebook to release stress as Board exams are nearing or
because you wanted to chance running online into your crush. Probably you are
in India but you could also be in Pakistan ! Why do I say this? Because there
are traffic jams in Pakistan too.There are McDonald’s in Pakistan too. There
are Board exams in Pakistan too. People fall in love in Pakistan too. All these
things are not special to India or any one country for that matter! But the
word “Pakistan” seems to raise images of terrorism, brutality, islam and
everything negative. It is funny that there are people and “scholars” who talk
and write books about Pakistan , without ever having visited the country once.
They talk about the Pakistani Govt and ISI, as if that’s what is “true
Pakistan”. If that be so, then our Indian politics, corruption and killing in
the name of cow protection represents “true India” !
But what about our Indian soldiers and
innocent people who were shot and killed by pakistanis? What about the many
Indian prisoners of war who were tortured to horrifying deaths in Pakistan?Do
we realize it that for every terrorist in Pakistan, there are ten Nusrat Fateh
Ali Khans, the world-renowned Sufi singer. For every Pakistani who shoots
innocent Indians, there are ten Malala Yousafzais who got shot in the head
standing for peace and Right to Education. For every Pakistani who wishes bad
for India, there are hundreds of ordinary Pakistanis doing their 9 to 5 jobs,
looking forward to weekends, possibly some of them reading this on facebook-
who want nothing more than a good night sleep and be caressed by a loved one at
the end of a long day.
"We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced"- Malala Yousafzai
“Dhoondte Tera Khuda, Mujhko Rab Mila”
(While finding your God, I found mine)
This is a line from the song “Tu jo Mila”
in the movie.
Lets say you try explaining a 6 year old
girl something-like, it is important to sleep early for a healthy life. How do
you do it? If you think by telling her in “your” language that “Early to Bed.
Early to Rise. Makes a person healthy wealthy and wise” and she will understand
then you are terribly wrong! Those who have experience in raising small children
know what small children need to be told. You have to talk to them in “their”
language. “ If you sleep early, then the dream fairy will come in six white
horses and take you to the Land of Dreams”
Pawan a.k.a Salman Khan in the movie
initially prays to Bajrang Bali for showing him the way and guiding him to take
the lost six year old girl to her family. He later realizes he should also
appeal to her God for guiding him. No, no body told him to do so. He himself
realizes this.
I remember the time when once one of my
friends asked me to pray for her, pray that she gets the love of her life. I
was proud enough of my atheism to not give my friend’s plea much consideration!
I dismissed it as a childish longing. I was wrong. If only I had prayed to
“her” God and had realized that that did not mean I had to give up on my
Faith(yes, lack of religious Faith is also a Faith).
As a child, I distinctly remember watching
Hatim on TV with my family. This man with extraordinary spirit embarks on a
journey to destroy the Evil through solving seven riddles one by one. His
approach for solving the riddles was not linear. He was apparently not
goal-oriented. In fact, he kept his life at stake many-a-times for helping
passers-by out of distress, which on the face of it, seemed totally unrelated
to the riddle he was given to solve. He got lost in his own quest of relieving
pain and misery in the lands he journeyed to, only to get his riddle suddenly
solved in the end!
When I grew up, i met a friend who gave
shelter to a homeless lost pup. At the time, she was herself going through a
lot in life and she was in no state to take care of the pup for more than a few
days. But as fate would have it, she grew attached to the pup and adopted her!
Giving semblance to her pup’s life, she found semblance in her own. “We both
saved each other”.
“Dhoondte Teri Gali, Mujhko Ghar Mila”
(While finding your home, I found mine)-
from the same song.
Eventhough two people speak a given
language, does not mean they speak in “each other’s language”. They may be
totally out of step with one another even though they speak words belonging to
the same language. Much like an ignorant adult telling a six-year old girl to
go to sleep.
There is another language that runs hidden
but parallel to the language of the Words. In the movie, the protagonist
encounters one Islamic religious scholar who helps him avoid capture by police
and lets the lost girl reach her destination. The Hindu is indebted with
gratitude and without realizing it does an “adab” to bid his saviour goodbye.
Language of the Heart.
I believe if people spoke more in each
other’s language they would fight less.
I wonder why the movie did so well at the
Box Office so much so that it became the second highest grossing film ever at
that time! What was in it that connected with the audience so well.
Maternal love, the childlike innocence,
longing for home, wanderlust mixed with suspense(travelling across different
lands with perpetual risk of being discovered) are just few of the sub-themes
the movie touches upon . But, probably the main stem that connected with the
audience was, not surprisingly, the character of the protagonist himself. In
the movie, he is portrayed as man with many flaws. He is dumb, fails his
college “ten times” , is jobless so much so that he has to prove himself to win
the hand of his lover in marriage. It just reflects the common man’s
inadequacies- not necessarily the exact same ones. Everyone at some point has
felt themselves to be inadequate and not living up not only to other’s
expectations but more importantly to their own. But, all this is forgivable ,
all this can be overlooked because of one underlying quality that humans value
the most : being good.
The protagonist is a good person. In fact,
he has a heart of gold. And his quest for taking the girl back to her family in
Pakistan opens the eyes and touches the lives of many people who cross his way.
He is a living example of the wonderfully true and enlightening belief that our
similarities are far more strong than our differences. There is no religion
bigger than humanity. It is not a new concept. It is something that people
already knew but this is brought to their awareness through a ‘loser’ common
man who gets raised to heroic proportions.
