In one of my favourite movies, English Vinglish, Sridevi, who is trying to learn English to prove to her family that she is capable enough to work beyond the capacity of a ‘typical Indian housewife’ (intentionally being judgemental here), asks the meaning of this word, and towards the end, in a truly unnerving speech, advises a newly-wed couple to not be judgemental of each other; to stay as one.
And while people applaud such
drama while at the movie, they repeat the same outside.
Everything is relative in the
universe, and everything is unique; says the social version of the Theory of
Relativity. And as marketing professionals may like, they create clusters of ‘somewhat
alike’ people. While this is a good starting point, they do realize that still,
at a micro-level no two people will ever be alike. And since it is monetarily impractical,
they just stop at the macro-level. However, in crucial matters, where costs
involved are less, why do we pass judgements without any further analysis?
Just yesterday, Salman Khan got
convicted in an old hit-and-run case, and the public went berserk. “Oh! He has
done a lot of charity. He should be pardoned.” Relative to the wealth he has
amassed, he has done proportionally much less charity than many others. “It is
a loss to Bollywood. Imagine the amount of revenue loss.” He talks of justice
and righteous morals in his movies, Dabang, Wanted, etc. and when it comes to
him, these talks just vanish? Good or not, charitable or not, every crime
deserves equal penalty. But this is a side note; the real problem is how people
are judging him just because he is Salman Khan. Girls go weak in their knees when
they see Shah Rukh Khan (who also made brilliant movies on religious tolerance:
Swades and My Name is Khan). India is proud to have Sania Mirza. I get APJ
Abdul Kalam’s philosophical messages even now. And yet, when a Muslim couple
from well-to-do background, wants to buy a home in Mumbai, they are shoved away
without even the chance of meeting or talking. Hypocrisy? Being Judgemental?
Being just?
In the movie, 2 States, at a
point when Arjun Kapoor’s mother rejects Alia Bhatt since she is south India,
he asks one very relevant question, “Dad is a Punjabi. What happened to your
marriage?” The first proxy, even in today’s most advanced cities, for a
marriage proposal is religion. Then caste. Then sub-caste. In some parts of India,
there is a condition that the castes should be different, whereas in others,
they are required to be same. Compatibility, thoughts, preferences, education- all
these ‘important parameters’ take a backseat. I consider myself really lucky to
belong to a rather liberal family, but pity for a few others, who I know, are
undergoing the above.
