“It is most unfortunate that a film made as part of a certain political propaganda and with little concern for ground facts is being screened by a certain section of Christian churches; creating fears of an impending inter community division that too on an issue dismissed by the Central Government as non-existent. The film itself is certified as Adults only (A) by the censor board and we wonder how it is being shown to students in general, as reported in the media”, a statement by 46 of the concerned citizens including Ambassador K P Fabian (rtd, ) Arundhati Roy, writer, said asking for restraint of the screening of the film “ Kerala Story “ to young people in churches during the run up to the elections of 2024.
“Kerala Story”, is a one sided propaganda film which has become the order of the day during the last 5 years. There was a film on “Veer Sarvakar”, first quarter of the year, so was a film mocking Jawaharlal Nehru University, indicating that the country is in for a series of politically loaded propaganda films , which has become the order of the day for the last one decade.
The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) of 2022 saw the world waking up to a new genre of Indian films officially being promoted by India through the film Kashmir Files. The IFFI jury chairman, an Israeli filmmaker based in Paris, Naved Lapid, described Kashmir Files, promoted by the ruling party at the Centre, with a series of entertainment tax exemptions as “vulgar propaganda”. He thus flagged off a new genre of officially supported “propaganda films” from India. What has pained Lapid to mention the film was it was entered in the competition section of the festival officially by the host country.
Little did Lapid know that India’s tryst with the Nehruvian era in films too had ended , with all filmy institutions including the National Film archive being merged with the sinking National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) , which had become an event management agency for the government of India. Last financial year 2022-23 end saw all institutions like Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, Children’s film society of India and National Film Archive of India which worked directly under the Ministry of Information and broadcasting were merged with NFDC, a corporation under the Ministry, thus putting end to these institutions created to nurture good film culture in India during the Nehruvian era. Not just that, the Central Board of Film Certificate of India’s appellate body was disbanded and the power of ultimate arbitration of censorship was bestowed to the Home Ministry of the country, making the certification of films under the political establishment completely.
The emergence of propaganda films did not end with condemnation of Kashmir File. It was followed up with an equally one-sided Kerala Story this year. The film claimed 32,000 young women of Kerala joined Islamic State groups, after converting to Islam, a fact when confronted by courts the filmmaker reduced it to just three. Critics described the film as “lengthy wahtsapp forward”, with no credible content but that did not prevent the BJP ruled States giving the film entertainment tax exemptions making it earn a few hundred crores. The media build up followed ensured the young women leaving Kerala for their livelihood to Arabian countries “suspects” in the eyes of innocent people outside of Kerala.
No amount of public condemnation or criticism by courts has stopped the propaganda film factory aided and abetted by the ruling party of the centre even after Kerala Story. There are already films on Delhi riots of 2020 and Ajmer 92 incidents, in the pipeline which are one-sided and trying to paint a minority community in a bad light. This is not to forget the bio-picture on the Prime Minister Narendra Mody before the last general elections and also there was one film on former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh based on a book written by Mr Sanjay Baru, a former advisor to Dr Singh. The common thread of all these propaganda films, which are blatantly one, sided in their depiction of the story, is painting the minorities or the opposing ideology as black, thus adding to the favorite divisive narrative of the ruling establishment depicting the political opponents as villains.
Even more dangerous is the effort by some established filmmakers to rewrite old stories into the divisive narrative, like in the case of RRR, a South India box office hit. Not just blatant propaganda, but in-film clever propaganda has become the order of the day.
A look at the filmmakers of the genre reveals that they are totally new names and have identified themselves with the ruling establishment in one way or the other. Most of the old and established filmmakers have restrained themselves from getting to this genre of films, as they always cater to the majority of the viewers irrespective of caste, religions or politics. That being the nature of the film market so far, propaganda films had no takers. The new rush for propaganda films appeared clearly due to the official patronage it is receiving through entertainment tax exemptions and for sure national awards, whose jury is also handpicked to encourage such films. For instance the “Kerala story “producer was the Chairman of the last National Film Festival jury. No one has any doubts that this genre is an official propaganda vehicle of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, just as its infamous IT cell. For the 2021 national awards saw Kashmir Files being awarded the film projecting best National Integration theme. What an irony as the film by all counts was dubbed as a one sided propaganda on Kashmir issue, not integrating Kashmir with any sections.
India has seen many a political films, never such movies so much one sided and blatant or rabid.”Kisa Kursi Ka’, a film which described emergency period of 1975-77 was banned, as it was critical of the politics of the day. There have been political film, but none of them have been so partisan or rabidly against any single groups.
In fact there is a genre of political films in India by Left leaning directors like Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and a host of others. But they took up issues dearer to the Left ideology and did not direct it against any one group or community or even a political party. Prime Minister Ms Indira Gandhi through her liberal film policies encouraged such films, which were mostly told rural stories with easy finances from Film Finance Corporation (FFC) which later became National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). Though many of the FFC/NFDC funded films had Left leaning ideological moorings, no one thought it was blatant propaganda as rural issues were a hot topic for the developing economy of the country.
Kwaja Ahemed Abbas, writer and filmmaker, who made Dharti ke Lal in the 1940s on the Bengal famine is considered as the doyen of such films. Abbas, a card holding member of the Communist Party of India, indeed became the close advisor of Prime Minister’s Nehru and his daughter Ms Gandhi. Abbas was also close to the then Soviet Union and its MOS films and had even undertaken a co-production film about a Russian explorer to India. No one ever thought he was a propaganda film man, as he was also the script writer for many of the hit films of Raj Kapoor . Abbas is also credited with the film Naxalites, but at best it can be seen as a political film, not a propaganda film and had no support from the government of the day, like what is happening today.
Films were seen as a uniting factor in India from the initial days of the republic. It brought together a shared experience for people across India before the advent of national and satellite television upto 1990s. Hindi as a language became popular and became a link language in India thanks to the Hindi films. The stories were social and fictional in nature and no one commercial filmmakers tried to dabble in politics to favour a particular party or an ideology. The ideological films were made for a discerning audience and they were confined to film society/ festival and urban circuits and not the mass theaters .And government through the National Awards and international film festival participations encouraged these ideological films for the discerning audience. There was tacit support of the government for such films as it brought laurels to the country from the international film festival circuit. Be it the films of Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal or Govind Nihalani, despite the bureaucratic opposition sometimes, brought top honors from Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals thus justifying their government support.
But today with the kind of propaganda film, decried by Navad Lapid’s of the world, films such as Kashmir files are not just bringing any laurels, but discredit to the entire film field which has emerged as a formidable one among the global movie scene. Some countries like Singapore have banned the screening of the film Kashmir File as they find it inflammatory in its content. However, some State governments in India have openly encouraged films like Kashmir Files and also Kerala story by exempting them from entertainment tax, which so far had never happened.
Ideological persuasions are fine in films as any work of art is also a reflection of the creative person behind it. But blatant, one sided , propaganda is harmful in mass media like films, as it can mislead a lot of people, even affecting democratic process of the country. For Indian films, which have found international markets in China and Middle East and other countries, such films will lead to shrinking of its market in its traditional footprints too. This is apart from being ignored in international film festival circuits, as they look at the creative aspects of films, not the propaganda value. Propaganda film in general does not augur well for India nationally and internationally, though it might suit some vested interests for some time.