The media trial of Veena Malik epitomised by that scary TV interview the other night by Kamran Shahid, who showed an amazing streak of self-righteousness brought to the fore underlying propaganda that only serves to divide people beyond the border. When Veena, who, brought the house down towards the end of the show with a compelling riposte to the mufti, looked in the eye of the host to ask where was my media when they (Big Boss participants) were using choice expletives to insult me?, a supercilious Shahid responded with some audacity: If you had consulted us, we would probably have advised you not to go to India at all.
The underlying suggestion was that it was unpatriotic of Veena to have crossed the border and performed like she did just because it was an Indian show. Shahid tried to prop the argument by suggesting it would perhaps, have mattered little if the same enactment had taken place elsewhere (he gave the example of US). This twisted line of thinking reminded me of all that has gone on before as propaganda at the altar of patriotism on either side of LoC.
Time was when the governments of India and Pakistan produced official films, which pandered to the base sentiment in castigating the enemy. The history of Indo-Pak war (read propaganda) movies never rode on the kind of subtlety that would induce an objective interest amongst serious viewers. Despite a concerted effort to seek how Pakistani filmmakers have fared in the propaganda stakes, one could come across names like Maujaza (Urdu) and Parohna (Punjabi).
Neither made waves but the latter is known for hit numbers by Melody Queen Noor Jehan, some of which like Meriah Dhol Spahyiah and Mera Mahi Chail Chabeela assumed legendary status. These patriotic songs during the 1965 war with India struck an emotional chord among the masses. Like Pakistan, filmmakers in India, too, havent quite been able to set the box office alight even though some of them have spared the kind of budgets simply beyond the imagination of their counterparts this side of the Indus.
The 1973 Raj Kumar starrer Hindustan Ki Kassam had a funny plot for a propaganda movie.
The movie revolves around the IAFs mission of destroying a PAF radar, which blocks IAF pilots radios in combat. The Indian intelligence plants Tahira (played by Priya Rajvansh), who is the fiance of a PAF pilot (Amjad Khan). Tahira goes to Pakistan and starts working as a singer in PTV studio (where the radar which jams the radio frequency of IAF jets is also kept). Tahira informs the IAF about the jammer. IAF asks her to leave the building in the night after her programme is done so that they can raid the building. PAFs counter intelligence finds out about her and so zero in on her that very night.
As soon as her programme is finished, the IAF air raids the studio while she is still inside. In the dogfight with Pak Sabers, Raj Kumars jet is destroyed and he crashes. He radios for help and the IAF fighters destroy the pursuing Pakistan soldiers and their vehicles. Lo and behold! The pilot and Tahira are evacuated.
However, the 1997 hit Border proved to be an exception to the propaganda flops. The plot revolves around the Battle of Longewala in Rajasthan and is inspired by Director J P Duttas own feelings for a brother he lost in 1987 when his Mig crashed. The movie shows many soldiers being killed. However, in real life, the defenders at Longewala lost only two soldiers! The movie was not without its share of mishaps. As many as 60 cinegoers died during a show when a fire broke out in a New Delhi cinema.
Kargil provided enough fodder for wanna-be propagandists and in 2003 LoC Kargil, directed by J P Dutta again, followed. It focused on the impact a war has on soldiers and their families. A year later, the Hrithik Roshan-starrer Lakshya was premised in a fictional account of events of the Kargil conflict. Mushy stories about cross-border romance replaced propaganda wars on reel after the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led BJP government decided to forego years of bad blood in the wake of Kargil conflict and a militant attack on the Indian parliament, for which Delhi blamed Islamabad.
In fact, so quickly did the mood change that the great Naseeruddin Shah revealed to me in an interview that he had refused to play the villain in the blockbuster Main Hoon Na because the role required him to badmouth Pakistan!
Mercifully, better sense has prevailed after the Mumbai episode and Pakistani stars have only just won nominations for some jolly good work in Bollywood. All the more need to stop using Veena as a vehicle to rabble rouse again to say nothing of putting the starlets life at risk in this mullah-riven country.
The writer is a newspaper editor and can be reached at kaamyabi@gmail.com