Culture talk: War, politics and the movies

Rahat Kazmi, an Indian filmmaker, recently made a film on Saadat Hasan Manto called Mantostaan. The film premiered at Cannes this year in the Le Marche Du category. And when Kazmi was asked about the logic behind the title of the film he said, “It’s beyond the boundaries of Hindustan and Pakistan. It’s the world of the writer. Hence, Mantostaan.”

Cinema is a collective art. In fact, it is one of the most democratic mediums of art. When the house lights go off and when the National Anthem starts playing, we all start honouring the diversity that our country has bestowed upon us. It brings us all into a single file and as citizens of this country we are all heart — both in love and rage.

The controversy surrounding Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has brought the spotlight back on a series of questions. Should art and politics be kept away from each other? Our soldiers have died along the Line of Control and theirs is the supreme sacrifice. But will the ban on a few actors bring solution and solace into a conflict that has been raging for years? Are these actors political performers? Are we, in any way constructively helping the Army by taking such decisions? Isn’t it a matter of shame that we are encouraging hooliganism by agreeing to demands backed by threats of economic and physical harm? More importantly, are other nations who have been in conflict with neighbours resorting to such tactics?

Let’s look at Israel — a country located in a region that has seen endless human suffering. It’s also a country we were recently compared with, militarily.

Sufat Chol or Sand Storm is Israel’s official entry this year to the Academy Awards, in the Best Foreign Film category. The dialogues are entirely in Arabic and recently, it won six Ophir Awards (Israel’s equivalent to the Oscars).

Sufat Chol then, has become Israel’s first ‘Arab’ entry to the Oscars. How, despite years of conflict between Arab and Jewish communities, did this happen? There were even protests from certain quarters of the Israeli establishment. The country’s Minister of Culture, Miri Regev, walked out when the makers of Sufat Chol were being honoured.

But Israel continued to promote the film. In fact, Arab women have been making substantial contributions to the Israeli film industry and the trend is being encouraged.

“This perhaps moves Israeli cinema a few steps forward toward getting to know the Arab society in Israel, which it usually sees according to stereotypes that fit the Jewish narrative,” Maysaloun Hamoud, director of In Between, which won the award for best debut film at the Haifa Film Festival, was quoted as saying. The lead characters in In Between are actually played by three Palestinian actresses. Israel and Palestine have been at war with each other for nearly half a century. Experts have even called it the planet’s most difficult political issue — an “intractable conflict”. But none of that animosity has permeated into cultural ties.

The strength of our democracy is its inclusivity. The Arts grow because of influences from different cultures and a culturally rich country like ours has had a million different contributions. This diversity is what we are fighting to protect in the first place.