Leila (Miniseries, Hindi; 2019)
Netflix
Many Indians have accused this miniseries and Netflix as being anti-Hindu. They even called for a boycott of the channel. Some suggest that the setting of the show, a dystopian India of 100 years after its independence, reflects many things of the present. Detractors assert that this fictitious 2047 India, which worships one man as a demi-god cannot get more real than the present. They insist that the division of the nation along religious and class lines already exist. The film tries to imagine a future when the schism along these lines goes overboard. The rulers of the day want to purify the race, separating couples of mixed marriages and of their offspring.
India has been renamed Aryavarta, with an apparent reference to its Sanskrit roots. In Aryavarta, the rich have swapped places with the working class. A new nationalist leader has taken charge. An ultra-conservative stance is revered by all. The people who used to be amongst the upper echelon of society are vilified and sent to labour camps. Western ideas are scorned upon, and there is a penchant to go back to the traditional values of the community. In the midst of all these, civil society is broken. People live in fear, and the country is a big garbage dumpster. Water is a rare commodity and citizen kill each other for it. The air is severely polluted, and rain is dirty.
The protagonist, Shalini, is a Hindu woman who married her Muslim husband. Their 'decadent' lifestyle is 'punished' by government vigilantes. Her husband is killed. She is incarcerated for purification, and her child goes missing. The story revolves around the story of a mother who is trying to find her lost child. To do that, she has to work with the government resistance forces to beat the system that is hellbent on punishing its citizens who flout the seemingly just law.
Leila is India's version of 'Handmaid Tales' of a bleak future. Shalini's character is representative of the much-loathed liberal, an upper-middle-class young English-speaking urban-dweller. Despite her outlook of modernity, she has been ingrained over generations of caste and class consciousness in her daily life. This is what the new regime had promised to overturn.
What many fail to realise is that there is a lot of difference between the Hindutva political movement and Hinduism. Hindutva can be viewed as a governmental entity that seeks hegemony of Hindu practices over other religious beliefs, whereas Hinduism can be construed as a way of life as practised in the Indian sub-continent. The supreme leader referred to in the miniseries is none other than Modi himself. The motifs and colours used by the ruling junta have an uncanny resemblance to BJP's and Hindus' use of the colour saffron in many of their auspicious functions. No wonder the conservatives allege that there is a concerted effort by the West (or liberals, or leftist - pick your poison) to discredit anything positive developments in the post-colonial economies. When science and technology are emphasised, they are accused of sidelining poetry and literature. When history is retold from an Asiatic viewpoint, they are attacked for rewriting history to suit their political agendas.
A particular sect of champagne-drinking intelligentsia and socialists who benefit from overseas grants from institutions with specific agenda would continue spewing hatred towards anything Hindu, they say. One way to achieve this is by creating false narratives of victimisation. But, surely there is work to be done in many areas to improve society. There is no perfect solution to the problems of the world. And the struggle continues...
Netflix
India has been renamed Aryavarta, with an apparent reference to its Sanskrit roots. In Aryavarta, the rich have swapped places with the working class. A new nationalist leader has taken charge. An ultra-conservative stance is revered by all. The people who used to be amongst the upper echelon of society are vilified and sent to labour camps. Western ideas are scorned upon, and there is a penchant to go back to the traditional values of the community. In the midst of all these, civil society is broken. People live in fear, and the country is a big garbage dumpster. Water is a rare commodity and citizen kill each other for it. The air is severely polluted, and rain is dirty.
The protagonist, Shalini, is a Hindu woman who married her Muslim husband. Their 'decadent' lifestyle is 'punished' by government vigilantes. Her husband is killed. She is incarcerated for purification, and her child goes missing. The story revolves around the story of a mother who is trying to find her lost child. To do that, she has to work with the government resistance forces to beat the system that is hellbent on punishing its citizens who flout the seemingly just law.
Leila is India's version of 'Handmaid Tales' of a bleak future. Shalini's character is representative of the much-loathed liberal, an upper-middle-class young English-speaking urban-dweller. Despite her outlook of modernity, she has been ingrained over generations of caste and class consciousness in her daily life. This is what the new regime had promised to overturn.
What many fail to realise is that there is a lot of difference between the Hindutva political movement and Hinduism. Hindutva can be viewed as a governmental entity that seeks hegemony of Hindu practices over other religious beliefs, whereas Hinduism can be construed as a way of life as practised in the Indian sub-continent. The supreme leader referred to in the miniseries is none other than Modi himself. The motifs and colours used by the ruling junta have an uncanny resemblance to BJP's and Hindus' use of the colour saffron in many of their auspicious functions. No wonder the conservatives allege that there is a concerted effort by the West (or liberals, or leftist - pick your poison) to discredit anything positive developments in the post-colonial economies. When science and technology are emphasised, they are accused of sidelining poetry and literature. When history is retold from an Asiatic viewpoint, they are attacked for rewriting history to suit their political agendas.
A particular sect of champagne-drinking intelligentsia and socialists who benefit from overseas grants from institutions with specific agenda would continue spewing hatred towards anything Hindu, they say. One way to achieve this is by creating false narratives of victimisation. But, surely there is work to be done in many areas to improve society. There is no perfect solution to the problems of the world. And the struggle continues...
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