The Shahrukh Khan – Shiv Sena war of words has been consuming a lot of media bytes recently. That set me thinking on a fundamental question: Does Freedom of Speech exist in India? The Indian constitution provides all citizens with Right to Freedom, which includes Freedom of Speech and expression, which enable an individual to participate in public activities. It can be safely interpreted that this includes Freedom to express one’s opinion in a public forum.
For many years now, we have been suffering under the tyranny of certain extra – constitutional authorities that claim to represent the sentiments of common people. They pretend to know and understand what exactly offends people’s sensitivities and what does not; all the while scoring long distances of political mileage. Shiv Sena is, unfortunately, only one of those. We have more wannabes of the ‘I –am- India, People –of- this- country- are- all- stupid- and- I- am- the- only- person- who- can-keep- them- sane- and- civilized’ title.
For the life of me, I am not able to figure out what is objectionable in SRK saying that it’s a mistake to not let players from Pakistan appear in the IPL. He is a businessman who owns a franchise; and lets face it, we are missing out on a huge pot of talent from right across the border. And in a completely unoriginal master-stroke of a move, they direct their ire towards his about-to-be-released movie. Considering that the same routine has been done to death numerous times, Shahrukh should have anticipated the response. Well, the timing could not have been worse for him. I personally think he should have released his movie before the IPL auction. I can’t help but think about those childhood games we played – “you took my bat and I will hide your ball. You took my marbles, I will not give you my pencil!!!”
I am intrigued as to who gets the maximum media mileage out of this episode. Shiv Sena, of course, manages to grab attention every single time – Love them or hate them, but you can’t ignore them!! More often than not, they evoke sentiments like anger, frustration and resentment in me, and many others I know; but I somehow feel they are fine about that. In any case, I am not a voter from Maharashtra, so I doubt if my feelings would make any difference to them whatsoever.
SRK – arguably one of the biggest brands in India (according to himself) comes across refreshing as someone who would not want to retract his words even in the wake of a possible huge loss in revenues if his movie is not allowed to be exhibited in Mumbai. And for all you know, this might bring in more publicity for his movie. I, for one, am sure to watch ‘My name is Khan’, only because no Shiv Sena is going to tell me what I should do or should not do.
What about IPL – the silent third party in the controversy? An annual money – minting entertainment extravaganza that has as much good cricket as a Netherlands – UAE ODI might have. This brouhaha might not make any impact on them or on their self – proclaimed Modi King - another extra-constitutional authority in the making who feels that a media circus designed to make a few rich people richer is more important than the election circus that we get to see every five years. I am surprised that very few questions are being raised on the actual issue: Why weren’t players from Pakistan chosen by the Franchise owners? If it is, indeed, a political issue, it is worth pondering on. Agreed, international cricket with Pakistan is suspended, but isn’t IPL a domestic league where players from different nationalities play with and against each other? Sports can reflect political opinions once in a while, but it should not be an extension of politics. And don’t even get me started on the issue of the Australian players not being allowed to be in the IPL because some of our fellow citizens are being attacked down under. This coming from a political group who obviously does not believe in the same principle. How wonderfully hypocritical!!
This incident is a classic example of how the three great forces in India – Politics, Movies (read Bollywood) and Cricket come together to create chaos. I fear that we, “the common citizens of this Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic”, will lose our sanity in the process.
Coming back to where we started, the Indian constitutional Right to Freedom also gives “Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India which is also subject to reasonable restrictions by the State in the interest of the general public”. Doesn’t that ring a bell??
For the life of me, I am not able to figure out what is objectionable in SRK saying that it’s a mistake to not let players from Pakistan appear in the IPL. He is a businessman who owns a franchise; and lets face it, we are missing out on a huge pot of talent from right across the border. And in a completely unoriginal master-stroke of a move, they direct their ire towards his about-to-be-released movie. Considering that the same routine has been done to death numerous times, Shahrukh should have anticipated the response. Well, the timing could not have been worse for him. I personally think he should have released his movie before the IPL auction. I can’t help but think about those childhood games we played – “you took my bat and I will hide your ball. You took my marbles, I will not give you my pencil!!!”
I am intrigued as to who gets the maximum media mileage out of this episode. Shiv Sena, of course, manages to grab attention every single time – Love them or hate them, but you can’t ignore them!! More often than not, they evoke sentiments like anger, frustration and resentment in me, and many others I know; but I somehow feel they are fine about that. In any case, I am not a voter from Maharashtra, so I doubt if my feelings would make any difference to them whatsoever.
SRK – arguably one of the biggest brands in India (according to himself) comes across refreshing as someone who would not want to retract his words even in the wake of a possible huge loss in revenues if his movie is not allowed to be exhibited in Mumbai. And for all you know, this might bring in more publicity for his movie. I, for one, am sure to watch ‘My name is Khan’, only because no Shiv Sena is going to tell me what I should do or should not do.
What about IPL – the silent third party in the controversy? An annual money – minting entertainment extravaganza that has as much good cricket as a Netherlands – UAE ODI might have. This brouhaha might not make any impact on them or on their self – proclaimed Modi King - another extra-constitutional authority in the making who feels that a media circus designed to make a few rich people richer is more important than the election circus that we get to see every five years. I am surprised that very few questions are being raised on the actual issue: Why weren’t players from Pakistan chosen by the Franchise owners? If it is, indeed, a political issue, it is worth pondering on. Agreed, international cricket with Pakistan is suspended, but isn’t IPL a domestic league where players from different nationalities play with and against each other? Sports can reflect political opinions once in a while, but it should not be an extension of politics. And don’t even get me started on the issue of the Australian players not being allowed to be in the IPL because some of our fellow citizens are being attacked down under. This coming from a political group who obviously does not believe in the same principle. How wonderfully hypocritical!!
This incident is a classic example of how the three great forces in India – Politics, Movies (read Bollywood) and Cricket come together to create chaos. I fear that we, “the common citizens of this Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic”, will lose our sanity in the process.
Coming back to where we started, the Indian constitutional Right to Freedom also gives “Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India which is also subject to reasonable restrictions by the State in the interest of the general public”. Doesn’t that ring a bell??
