Bollywood has never been particularly progressive. For every 'Jaane Bhi do Yaaron', 'Swades' and 'Rang De Basanti', there are a thousand 'Animal' pulling it down.
And not to tug on that nostalgic appendage, but there was indeed a time when the audience at large did look towards cinema for a positive social message - read 'Zakhm', 'Damini' and all Hrishikesh Mukherjee movies. But that era went to the dogs around the time Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar came around with the 'Culture & Opulence Porn' vaiants of what used to be people's movies. Long gone were the days where the money was evil, landlords/industrialists were villains against whom the grassroots hero would fight for the right of the proleteriat. In was the bourgeois display of wealth and the surface level problems of the top 1%. Gone were the 5 o'clock shadows of the working person, the sweaty armpits of the middle classes. Now was the time for almost-fellatio like waxing of the super-rich who travelled to exotic destinations, ran in slow-motion away from the chopper parked on their own yard as their super-rich parents looked upon with a puja ka thali, eyes moist with fortune and body laden with untold amounts of designer wear and jewelry.
Now let me be clear, I understand that art (if the bollywood movies still classify as one, that is) is a reflection of life. So when Liberalisation happened, under PM Manmohan Singh, and India was hopeful for the first time about the future, the movies reflected it. Which means, the present is just full of fake narratives, propaganda jingoism and toxic gender discourse. Because while Bollywood has always been a place where reason takes a backseat, realism is an afterthought, and subtlety is as rare as an original script, but lately it has been a festering open wound of over-the-top, chest-thumping, flag-waving melodrama that masquerades as patriotism.
When wrapping yourself in the flag goes wrong
Our beloved film industry has been churning out nationalism-flavoured masala in the form of a never-ending buffet of misfires for years now. Whether it is the soldier who fights off an entire terrorist organization with his bare hands, the morally irreproachable intelligence officer who outsmarts the enemy nations with a smile on his face, or the villager whose patriotism is so intense it compels him to behave heroically in the face of danger—Bollywood has perfected the art of serving patriotism in an emotionally manipulative, cliche-ridden package.
Things have not always been the way they are now. There was a time when films like Border and Lagaan made people proud without hammering the message into people’s heads with the finesse of a sledgehammer. Now patriotism on the screen is not about subtlety or history—it’s about screaming slogans with the volume turned up to the maximum and the background score reaching deafening levels.
The secret sauce is Propaganda
The recipe is simple: take an enemy (preferably on the other side of the border, but domestic ones will suffice in a crisis), mix in a healthy dose of slow-mo salutes, a generous helping of emotional orations, and of course, a finale where the hero gazes longingly into the fluttering tricolour with the solutions to all the ills of India in his eyes. The bigger the explosions, the more patriotic. And let’s not forget the mandatory hyper-nationalist rhetoric—like ‘Bharat maa ke liye jaan de denge!’—spouted with the gravity of a Shakespearean tragedy. If the film is illogical, no problem! Just label it a ‘tribute to the nation,’ and any criticism can be easily dismissed as ‘anti-national’ propaganda.
But even with such a formula, there have been some disastrous box office failures in the latest forays into hyper-nationalist cinema. Take the case of Tejas (2023), for instance, where Kangana Ranaut played an Indian Air Force pilot in what was intended to be an adrenaline-pumping paean to the military. It flopped instead, grossing just ₹5.6 crore on an inflated budget of ₹70 crore. Or Samrat Prithviraj (2022) with Akshay Kumar in a historical drama trying to mythologize the mythical Hindu king—only to be rejected in no uncertain terms by the audience. And who can forget Attack: Part 1 (2022), another tale of a lone soldier on a singular mission to save the nation, which failed to make any real impact commercially? It seems clear now that audiences are tiring of the same recipe in new packaging.
The question simply is: for how long will Bollywood milk this tired cow? Will there be a day when filmmakers will realize that patriotism does not have to be served with melodrama? Or will we be eternally stuck in the never-ending cycle where every Republic Day or Independence Day brings with it another cinematic sermon in the guise of entertainment? Maybe someday Bollywood will have the guts to transcend the simple stories and engage with patriotism in a manner that provokes thought and not mere applause alone. Until then, we prepare ourselves for another ‘national pride’ show where the loudest dialogue is the winner and history takes the back seat in the name of creativity.
Cinema's role in a society shouldn't JUST be to distract. It can play a more important role - One that points out our failures on the bigger screen, showcase actual heroes, reinforce actual history, and reignite a sense of pride through activism. Cinema is not just vacous entertainment, but for now, seems like that's all we are going to get dished out. Maybe some producer, some production house will finally find a spine and tell a story that shakes the nation's conscious and imbue rational, practical and logical thinking back into the brainwashed masses.
Until then.
The views expressed in this article are personal. They do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, or positions of Vygr and Vygr Media Private Limited.
With inputs from agencies
Image Source: Multiple agencies
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