What’s in a name? It turns out, quite a helluva lot. Yesterday, we wrote about how silly it is to call the Mughal emperor, ‘Akbar the Great’, since ‘Akbar’ itself means ‘great’. Today, we find legitimacy in the suddenly discovered complaint that barring the odd Mogambo and Dr (Michael) Dang (Christians) in Mr India and Karma respectively, and Shakaal and Abrar Haque (Muslims) in Shaan and Animal, villains in Hindi movies overwhelmingly are Hindu characters. Ajit of Mona Darling (Christian) fame, Hindu. Prem Chopra of ‘Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra’ fame, Hindu. And, of course, Gabbar Singh, Hindu. (A Sikh wouldn’t wear the kind of amulet the Sholay villain wears around his neck.) Even filmi bad guys like the psychopathic character played by Shah Rukh Khan – please note, a Muslim – in Darr, is named Rahul Mehra, a Hindu!
There is clearly a trend here where most villains in Hindi cinema are Hindu. Trotting out the odd Aurangzeb from Padmaavat, or the communicating-by-whisky glass-taps Sir Judah (presumably Jewish) in Karz just won’t do. Neither will the argument that most heroes are also Hindus. That is not the point. What the point is that there should no longer be Hindu characters depicted as villains, thereby besmirching a whole community. Movies needn’t be bereft of baddies. They just have to be chosen from other communities.
