Instigators, aplenty!

Malik (Malayalam, 2021)
Written and Directed by Mahesh Narayanan

The recent Pew survey on religious and cultural attitudes revealed that most Indians respected each other's religion and took pride in their Indian identity. The only sore point was that they showed reluctance to having a person of a different faith as their neighbour. This point must have been exploited by politicians to usurp and stay in power. They try to create animosity between neighbours of other beliefs, use the arm of administrative and policing machinery at their disposal, and continue the legacy left behind by their colonial masters, divide and rule.

On the evolutionary scale, it is natural to go from homogeneity to heterogeneity, not backward. But no, not the leaders (and the press too), that is bad for business. The socialist and the generation who have been suckered into the woke culture will not rest till society collapse is complete and anarchy is the flavour of the day.

'Malik' tells the tale of a closely-knit Muslim and Christian community living by the coastal region of Kerala. In this small fishing village of Ramadapally, there is a mosque and a giant statue of Jesus (a miniature replica of 'Jesus The Redeemer' in Sao Paolo). They respect each other, and life goes on in harmony.

As their catch dwindles, they have to supplement their income by carrying contraband stuff in their boats. A business rivalry then develops between factions. The main character, Ali Ikka and his sidekick David managed to get the lion's share of the loot through creative out-manoeuvring. Ali marries David's sister, but David and Ali split ways when David wanted to baptise Ali's child whilst Ali wanted to bring the child up as a Muslim.

The tsunami, which hit the shores, disproportionately affected the Christians more than the Muslims. Politicians and police utilise this division to their advantage. Riots, police shootings, gang-related violence and pandemonium are the apparent sequelae.

Unity is something quite fragile. It should be able to stand the hard knocks and gales that come by. On top of that, parties with self-interests find this the Achilles tendon to destroy a society. To destroy is easy, but to build, a Herculian task!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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