Last week I saw "The Party", a 1968 Peter Sellers comedy.Sellers plays an Indian called Hrundy Bakshi, a film extra who is invited by mistake to a big Hollywood party instead of being fired. Sellers looks incredibly Indian and speaks with a very convincing accent too.
I sat in horror for the first half an hour, feeling completely outraged by what was happening onscreen. It was a horrible caricature of Indians in general and I felt it particularly distasteful.
In fact I think a movie like that wouldnt get away scot free today, without charges of racism surfacing.
And one of my good freinds here pointed out that Hindi movies are no different. And I agree with her.I have lost count of the number of times I have seen Tamilians(South Indians) being stereotyped in a highly ridiculous manner( esp the Late Mahmood).And nobody talks like that !!!
Of course having lived in a hostel with people from all over India,I do know none is spared-Bongs,Mallus,Punjabis,Biharis,Gultis et al-you name it!!
But I never found that as offensive or irritating, perhaps because they are Indians too (and also because everyone gives as good as they get!:-)
Maybe its my ego being hurt at the slight from a foriegner.Or I have become more sensitive about these issues after leaving India.
Infact that reminds me of another thing-the vision that people here have about India being an 'exotic' land of snake charmers and the like.And one of the professors actually told my room mate some drivel about Calcutta being a city with lots of snake charmers!!Now thats new!!
The general knowledge in this part of the world is practically non existent-but wait- I wont start on that now-lets save that for later.
When I went to the local Mall here I saw an "Indian shop".It sold things like wooden snakes and, hold your breath, "Hemchampa Agarbathee" and the humble old "Mooda"(now extinct bamboo stools:-)Well, thats the vision that they have of India!!
Coming back to what I was saying, whatever the reason, I do realise now that its not much fun when you are at the wrong end of the joke. I must be honest enough to admit that I would never have thought so much had the lead character been of some other nationality.
In retrospect I am glad that I saw that movie. Sometimes you need to be on the other side to get a better perspective.
It has made sure that next time I start a joke about that Sardarji, I will think twice.
(As an after thought,I must say Sellers is a brilliant actor)
4 comments:
hv no idea wht makes u so concerned abt racism when india is perhaps the most racist country in the world..and u of all people having studied in rec shud be aware of tht first place..
reg the indian shop..if its being run by an indian-it is the guys fault to project india in tht manner.. if otherwise..then it is pitiful tht the guy found such stuff as most attractive wen he was abt to procure the same..poor taste whtsoever.. :-P
Nice to see that you have touched upon such a sensitive topic again.. and done a good job at that. Let me start off by saying that I am touched! ;-)
As an Indian, I wouldn't like to indulge in self-criticism at this particular juncture. However I am very compelled to agree with you on our typical mentality; its always a case of the "the grass is greener on the other side" or the rather lighter-veined thambi v/s bihari v/s gujju v/s mallu v/s bong v/s oddu v/s gult v/s ghati v/s usa v/s kandu v/s ... whatever. But I guess we are by and large good natured, and accommodative in terms of certain things which turn out to be serious issues for the occident.
Nevertheless like you said we only realise and reconcile things upon two things- a good few thousand miles trip acroos the planet or a something out of the box like 'Swades'.. fourtunately we're smart enough to realise that we're all good after all! ;-)
As for your unfortunate experience with "Hemchampa Agarbathis" and "Moodas" at the Indian shop, I would like to remind you that you're in Texas, my dear friend ;-)
It is but expectedly hard to find GK at your part of the world :)
So much for a Peter Sellers comedy! ;-)
Mercurial indeed, right?! :)
Hi Shriram,
Nice topic you've written on. Good work there.
And i like the fact that you've brought in many perspectives to the same thing.
Talking of regional racism, I think all countries indulge in that. Like you pointed out that in Hindi movies, there's a Mahmood and in India there are Surd jokes, in other countries as well there are definitely such jokes on community. Think about the blondes. They're branded dumb just because they have blonde hair?! Howzzat?!!
Its probably part and parcel of our lives we have race based jokes and its better left jokes.
"Maybe its my ego being hurt at the slight from a foriegner.Or I have become more sensitive about these issues after leaving India."
Maybe it is more the latter in your case.
But Shriram.. Its a joke and leave it at that. I know it pricks when its on you but come on, its still a joke.
But talking of the non-existent GK yeah i do agree with you. Its in a way astonishing how people can be so ignorant.
Poor you. Maybe you should take some pictures of Kolkata to your prof and tell also point out to him that snake charmers are endangered species in India themselves just like the snakes maybe!!
Post a Comment