“The colors are not enough, ” he said there are many missing. Looked the Half filled glass with disgust towards him. Said the Artist ” I apologize for it “Sire”.
The people looked at him in amazement a few expecting a response, a few waiting to respond to his call others silent from the soul’s voice few curious to know the result.
7 A Billion Minds 7 Billion worlds to each a new World and each be the Monarch of its own. Sometimes the situations are such that we are made to choose to shore and not be granted the freedom to flow. Political situations have shaped a rift in a nation of the right and left and none has been spared from the trend be it humans or the Art. A few eminent Journalists and reviewers have accused Baahubali 2 to be lacking “secular” credentials. In an attempt to understand it we will revisit the Baahubali storyline in an independent manner.
Baahubali which is a partial amalgam of Mythological storylines and Fascinating screen creation plays on the symbolics of various mythological premises like the “Baahubal” aka “The Infinite Cosmic Strength of the Shiva” the AdiYogi, The Arrogance and Jealousy of Duryodhana, The Feminine Courage of Rani Laxmi Bai (not a mythological character), The Mind Trap of Shakuni, The Irresistibility of Krishna, The Loyalty of Karna and most importantly the Raj Dharma of Bhagwad Geeta or in simple terms the Battle for Righteousness, The fight for it , the strive for it. Righteousness being the Prime “Dharma” or the duty or the religious and spiritual pursuit of being.
Having analyzed the character backdrop of Baahubali the hyperbole of its depiction does sure work for its myth elaboration and expansion as well as on the flip side of coin questioning the practicalism of Physical Analytics in it. To each it’s opinion but the question which we wish to pose to the people concerned about Secularity of Baahubali’s Screenplay is “How does the creation of our indigenous cultural mythological and symbolical stories on a larger celluloid against the fabric of Secularism ?”. We’ve grown up with these stories and their messages and their characters. From our childhood, we’ve learned from them and evolved then How today bringing them alive come under the scanner of Secularism? Just presenting your story and not including a certain kind of characters “Fascism” ? or in otherwise if they were introduced just for the sake of it or mere presence How would it have helped the cause or the storyline ?. or How is it affecting the Artistical brilliance of Character Detailing and Story propagation in the Story as presented? So now it’s expected of makers to maintain a certain kind of characters in the storyline not to offend or otherwise appease sections of society is that what the critics are suggesting?
India belongs to the Indian to each one of us who believe it to be our Motherland and the mythological tales or the presence of symbolic tales are as much as they belong to a Hindu as to others because of more than merely stories, characters they are our heritage. Our age long knowledge our message to the world. If forgetting and feeling ashamed of our own heritage is defined as “Secularism” then either it’s too poorly defined or you need to question the sanctity of person defining it. The culture, heritage & the mythology belongs to all irrespective of the belief.
Its recreation on celluloid is something we must be all collectively proud of and the method and technical brilliance with which it’s achieved by S. S. Rajamouli is just brilliant in itself. A masterpiece of its sorts. Art doesn’t need to be perfect or all inclusive. it’s an expression of imperfection an opinion and story and to each his own story.
The semantics of artistic analytics must at least be kept away from the lens of Politics and Religion. Art is beyond them we must understand. Our culture, Our mythology, Our stories, Our characters they all belong to us collectively if either you wish to feel ashamed of them for their non-inclusiveness or just appreciate the inherent quality the message the idea they possess.
Secularism is the basic idea of respect for all religion and tolerance for every idea which doesn’t harm anyone else. Let us just keep the definition clear to our conscience and not let it be twisted by political ideologues to be presented to you in a skewed intellectual form of Hatred and Intolerance. Baahubali is as secular and as artistic as any work of art out in the market and nowhere does it insult or intends to insult any community or section. It’s mere recreation of a philosophically enriched culture which belongs to as much you as to me on the large screen let’s just keep it limited to them and not drag it into realms of political and especially religious debate.
The purity of Art is meant to be felt. Art is all about love, a message, a story, most importantly an opinion an Idea a Thought and never hatred.
“I apologize for it ” Sire” ” the artist exclaimed. The half empty glass looked iS. S. Rajamoulin astonishment apprehended by the sheer arrogance of the kind. The audience looked to the artist in the amazement of his silent response.
Written By: Anirudh
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