http://sachingoa.blogspot.com/
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Da Vinci controversy
Navhind Times Dt. 21st May
Now that our secular state has achieved the dubious distinction of being
the first state in the world attempting to ban The Da Vinci Code (film, not
the book), on the grounds that it is 'blasphemous', I would be interested
to know if those who want it banned have even read the book since there is
no question of seeing the film.
But perhaps that is beside the point; this is India where logic and reason
are illusory. After all, we were the first country to ban Salman Rushdie's
'Satanic Verses', we also banned the musical 'Jesus Christ Superstar',
banned Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese's 'The Last Temptation of Christ'. Why?
Because they 'hurt the sentiments of certain sections of society'.
Of course we are a secular country, and going by the developments of the
last couple of days, our secularism is only growing stronger. So does the
ban reflect a somewhat immature and overtly touchy Christian community in
India? Right now, not many alternative explanations are forthcoming.
The Da Vinci Code offers a point of view which can certainly be opposed,
but not banned.
Coming to the book, it was published three years ago, sold well in India in
hardcover and paperback (and even better in pirated prints), but all of a
sudden some have found the book 'blasphemous', 'a pack of lies' and
otherwise reprehensible. Whether these worthies were in deep slumber during
the last three years, when the book sold 60 million copies and outsold
practically every other book in Christendom, is a matter for conjecture.
Incidentally no country, Christian or otherwise, has banned the film at the
point of writing this. Lebanon banned the book last year; Goa is almost on
a par with it by being the first state to ask for a ban on the film. Since
Lebanon is not exactly a poster-nation for democracy and free speech, this
meeting-of-true-minds is probably not something we should be proud of. The
Taliban would approve, though.
As a general democratic principle, if you don't like to hear, see or read
somebody else's opinion, then by all means don't go to the theatre and
refuse to buy the book. If sufficiently outraged, you may even - since
Article 19 applies equally to all - even condemn the author by bell, book
and candle, and call for a boycott. But knee-jerk demands for bans and
proscriptions - like the Shiv Sena's passion for ransacking libraries and
the Uttar Pradesh minister's offer of Rs.51 crores for the head of a Danish
cartoonist - are signs of a growing intolerance which should be cause for
deep concern.
One likes to think that the Christian community is less rabid, but one
would be mistaken. Joining the Coalition of the Willing to lynch is
Nicholas Almeida, a former corporator of Mumbai who has offered Rs.11 lakhs
to anyone who brings him Dan Brown, 'dead or alive'. Later live on
television, he increased the bounty to Rs.22 lakhs. "God may forgive Dan
Brown but Almeida will not," he was quoted as saying. So much for learning
from the life of Jesus.
Dan Brown is a lucky man. In another day and age, he would have been
roasted alive for lesser sins. And if Nicolas Almeida is a sign of things
to come, the auto da fe - long forgotten in Goa - could well see a revival.
Now consider this: the Vatican has asked Christians to boycott the film.
Fair enough. Admirably, as befits a modern and progressive church, it did
not call for an outright ban. But in India, the film will be screened
before the Catholic Churches' Association of India (CCAI), who will then
decide its fate. The Censor Board (Central Board of Film Certification), a
professional body meant for the purpose, has already passed the film, but
now we have a new set of ecclesiastical censors - a new Congregation of the
Index - who (along with the I&B Minister) will lay down the Tridentine law.
If the film is banned, should the book be proscribed too? And likewise,
other blasphemous works like Holy Blood, Holy Grail and various Da Vinci
clones that are circulating in the market? Where will it all end?
Surely the Government is aware that VCDs and DVDs of the film will be
available within no time and, fuelled by the ban, pirated versions will
flood the market. All that the ban will achieve is the loss of large
amounts of money to the exchequer, in the form of entertainment tax which
would have been earned had the film been shown in theatres. But then,
secularism - not to mention vote bank politics - outweighs all other
consideration.
Just for the record, the book is written by a Christian, almost the entire
cast and crew of the film is Christian and it was shot in Paris and
Westminster Abbey (to which the Church didn't object). Why, then, is such a
hue and cry being made in India? Is there something special about the
Christian community and leadership in our country that we need to be
enlightened about?
Almost as unfathomable as the 'Christian sentiment' is the kind of
propaganda blitz launched against the film. Apart from those ads in the
paper calling Dan Brown 'Satans agent', surely, I am not the only one to
receive SMS and email asking for the ban to be supported, because the film
is based on a book which says that 'Jesus escaped from the Cross'. Really?
I am not quite sure which book is being referred to, but it is surely not
the Da Vinci Code, nor is Dan Brown the manipulator of truth here.
There is another important lesson in this. It is not just the illiterate
and the marginalized who are prey to such ill-informed propaganda - even
graduates with cell phones spread it around. So one can imagine how easy it
must be to manipulate the poor and illiterate, as in the case of the Danish
cartoon protests.
The bottom line is: if you don't agree with it, avoid it. Don't read it,
don't watch it. Watch Ice-Age 2 instead. Banning or censorship is not the
solution. This principle applies to all issues pertaining to all religions,
castes and creeds. Freedom is not divisible.
Or else, what's the difference between us and the Taliban?
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