Bollywood!!! A National Identity???

A phrase that widely used to describe India is Unity in Diversity. But in reality how much do we realize about the diversity that is present around us? Some people who claim that two things bring India together is Bollywood and Cricket. When it is acceptable on cricket part (not to forget Hockey is the national game), we should question whether Bollywood really unites India. The answer will be no.

While Bollywood movies are widely watched by more people around the country, it is limited only to multiplexes in cities of non Hindi speaking states. Again we should see how many Bollywood movies reflect the reality of India. Not many Indians can relate their life to any of the mainstream Bollywood movie made today. When one can argue that movies are for entertainment and to get away from the stress of our daily routine, we should also realize that in a country like ours where street drama and theatre works played an important role during the independence movement and even after  independence. Till today vast number of people look at cinema as a medium of inspiration as it was fifty years ago.

When only few hundred people watch Bollywood movies outside the Hindi speaking belt how can it be considered as a medium that unites the nation? Isn’t it another false propaganda that is made by us? It is true that Bollywood is known more widely than any other film industry in India, but how much responsibility does Bollywood take when it comes to showcase India in the world arena?

While Bollywood makes impact on certain percentage of population in India, let us not forget that there are few hundred million Indians who get their influence from other film industries that speaks their language.

We shamelessly promote Bollywood as the face of India and ignore the quality movies that are made in other Indian languages which reflects the real face of India. We are proud to showcase our masqueraded faces than showing the real face that is far more impressive and beautiful.

It is very important to get everyone’s acceptance before making something the icon of a country. Certain things become the unofficial representative of a country by time and some are made a national identity by force. It is in our hands to shape a better face of our country which will show the diversity of India rather than focusing only on certain aspects which neither represents Indians nor India.