Jumaat, 9 Mei 2025

PENDAPAT 3

The wait is over: There was no Oscar nomination for “All We Imagine as Light,” the Indian movie that won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival but was snubbed by the country’s own film federation.


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The wait is over: There was no Oscar nomination for “All We Imagine as Light,” the Indian movie that won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival but was snubbed by the country’s own film federation.

Now the recriminations will increase. If India had nominated the film in the best international feature category, would it have had a chance? Most Indians became aware of the sublime film only when it won at Cannes, where no Indian movie had even reached the main competition as a nominee in 30 years.


After all, “All We Imagine as Light” has been named best international film by the New York Film Critics Circle, and best foreign-language film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association and the San Diego Film Critics Society, as well as many other honors. Last week, it was nominated for best foreign-language film by British film association BAFTA. But only the originating country can submit movies for the Best International Feature Oscars category.

Lost in the fracas over this movie is the remarkable surge of female cinematic talent that has blossomed over the past decade in India. Indian films have traditionally used women merely as good-looking props, but women in these new movies are the protagonists, with complex challenges and lives. Women directors are telling stories considered taboo that do not conform to the propaganda machinery of the state, stories of casteism, misogyny and Islamophobia. These are subjects that mainstream filmmakers and stars will not touch.

Over the past decade, most mainstream Indian films have tried to stay true to the diktats of the government, with many echoing state propaganda; there have also been blockbusters that have been deeply regressive, female-bashing films that normalize extreme violence. Women filmmakers are reclaiming that space.


Even without Oscar recognition, “All We Imagine as Light” has made a strong impact inside India, where young women are responding to its message about the power of female friendship. Director Payal Kapadia features subjects not often seen in Indian movies — migrant workers, overcrowded trains, the struggles of the working class — set in the fast-paced city of Mumbai. This is a film of beauty, about love and longing, and finding your own community.


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The film, an Indo-French co-production, explores the life of three women working in a hospital, each with her own heartbreak. Prabha, the head nurse, has been largely abandoned by her husband, who lives in Germany. A nurse who shares an apartment with her, Anu, is a Hindu who is secretly dating a Muslim man. And then there is Parvaty, a cook in the hospital, fighting to save her home from developers. The film captures the profound loneliness people can experience in an overpopulated city.


Another film that premiered at Cannes is “Santosh,” made by British Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri with an all-Indian cast and partly Indian crew. Shot in northern India, the film is Britain’s official entry to the Oscars in the international feature category, and made the short list announced in December of movies to be considered for nomination. The film shows the underbelly of policing in India as seen through the eyes of two women police officers.


Santosh is a newly widowed woman who is offered her dead husband’s job as a police constable. Investigating the case of the rape and killing of a Dalit (lower caste) girl, she watches as suspicion falls on a Muslim friend of the slain girl. Santosh is not free of prejudice herself, and the internal struggles she goes through to get justice constitute the crux of the film. She is not a female supercop with heroic qualities but a vulnerable human who rises to the occasion. The film, which has won multiple international accolades, has yet to clear the censor board and thus has not been released in India.


The movie that was chosen as India’s official entry to the Oscars — “Laapataa Ladies” — is, ironically, also a film about women directed by a woman. It’s a heartwarming lighthearted drama on the theme of feminism set in rural India. The film is about two brides, each wearing the traditional long bridal veil, who get mixed up on a train and end up in misadventures. Kiran Rao, the director, creates moving moments of realization and self-discovery by the women, one of whom has never been to school and the other who is being forced into marriage with an abusive man despite her desire to make a career for herself. The movie, which has been a streaming success in India, did not even make it to the Oscar short list of 15 international feature films.


Another film now streaming in India is “Girls Will Be Girls,” by first-time director Shuchi Talati. It’s about the complex relationship between a girl at a boarding school who is having her sexual awakening and her mother, who inserts herself into the daughter’s relationship. With its frank look at female sexuality, as well as generational tension between a mother and a daughter, it’s ahead of its time for India. In a country where some girls are still married against their wishes, and others are deprived of basic education, these movies present a stark contrast to the norm. The women directors have stood up for their belief in cinema as a reflection of society and its flaws. Last year was truly a revolutionary one for Indian cinema.

During the controversy about “All We Imagine as Light” and the Oscars, Indian media revisited an incident that continues to plague Kapadia 10 years later. The future director was one of 35 students charged with rioting and wrongful confinement during protests after the Modi government installed a divisive figure as the head of their school, the Film and Television Institute of India. Some have speculated that was the reason her movie was snubbed.

Kapadia was clearly not about to be drawn into the Oscars dispute. Asked about it in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, she responded that instead of dwelling on the competition between “All We Imagine as Light” and “Laapataa Ladies,” “people should be rejoicing” that these two films directed by women have done so well. To the Cannes officials, she said: “Please don’t wait another 30 years to have an Indian film.”

PENDAPAT 2

 In February, a Bollywood film called “Chhaava” (“Lion Cub”) debuted in India amid massive fanfare. In the film, actor Vicky Kaushal plays Sambhaji, a Hindu leader who took on Mughal ruler Aurangzeb in the 17th century. Aurangzeb is portrayed as a sadist who chains and tortures the valiant hero, whose fingernails and tongue are pulled out and who eventually (spoiler alert!) dies. Mughal soldiers also burn a shepherdess alive. Indian news channels showed viewers emerging from the theater sobbing, exclaiming that they were unaware of the gory history of the Mughals in India.


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Ironically, the film was released on Valentine’s Day, when many couples pose in front of the Taj Mahal, a symbol of love constructed by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his favorite wife. Several other architectural wonders of the Mughal empire, which reigned in South Asia from the 16th to the 19th centuries, are among India’s most-visited tourist sites. Over the past five years, according to one report, India generated 548 crores, or about $64 million, in tourism revenue through the Mughal monuments.


But these beloved places went unmentioned in the onslaught of acrimony that followed the release of “Chhaava.” On social media, Hindu nationalists expressed outrage over the treatment of Hindu leaders by Islamic invaders more than three centuries ago. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the film, prompting several states to make the movie tax-free. The chief minister of the northern state of Uttarakhand announced he was renaming cities and roads named after Muslims and Mughals. And the chief minister of Maharashtra state asked that Aurangzeb’s tomb, which is under archaeological protection, be removed. In the city of Nagpur, mobs demanding the removal of the tomb attacked homes and set vehicles on fire, killing a 38-year-old Muslim man during the rampage.


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The unrest following the release of the movie is one more example of how the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) uses ancient history to incite hatred against India’s Muslim minority. Mughal rule in India has long been used as a dog whistle by the Hindu nationalist party, which refers to the country’s more than 200 million Muslims as the “children of Mughals.”


Mughal era is famed for its cultural achievements, including not only architecture but also gardens, literature, poetry and painting. Persian was the court language, and, for most of the time, its rulers practiced religious tolerance. Aurangzeb, though, who ruled from 1658 to 1707, enforced sharia law and alienated non-Muslims.


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While foreign dignitaries visiting India, from Vladimir Putin to Queen Elizabeth II, are always taken to visit the Taj Mahal, some BJP politicians have complained that the landmark is not representative of Indian culture. Recently, one politician announced proudly that copies of the Hindu scripture — the Bhagavad Gita — was now being given to visitors instead of Taj Mahal replicas.


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It was not always thus. In the past, Indian films celebrated the Hindu-Muslim unity that defeated British rule in India. The 1982 film “Gandhi,” about the leader who brought down the Raj with support from Muslims as well as Hindus, won eight Academy Awards, including for best picture. “Lagaan,” released in 2001, showed Indians of all religions and castes joining to defeat British colonial rule. In 2008, “Jodhaa Akbar” depicted the love affair between Mughal Emperor Akbar, who fostered communal amity between Hindus and Muslims, and a Hindu princess. It was a huge success.


However, since Modi came to power in 2014, Bollywood has made the Mughals the enemy. Even Muslim leaders long recognized as heroes have been caught in the historical crossfire. Tipu Sultan, the “Tiger of Mysore,” used to be celebrated for fiercely protecting his state from British invasion in the 18th century. Today, BJP leaders want to strip him of all honors.


India’s regression into hate politics regarding centuries-old rulers is also impacting a new generation. After a recent school screening of “Chhaava,” students angry over the “Muslim invasion” chanted in favor of the film’s Hindu heroes. One leading news site, Scroll, interviewed eight teachers in four cities who warned that children are being fed historical narratives with no basis in reality. “In most Indian schools,” the report pointed out, “medieval history is taught during the middle school years, to children between the ages of 10 and 14. This period is a core focus for Hindutva [Hindu nationalist] supporters, given the fact that large parts of the subcontinent were ruled by Muslim kings and emperors at this time. In recent years, Bollywood filmmakers have selectively dipped into this period of history to churn out films in sync with Hindutva talking points.”


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The talking points celebrate Hindu rulers as symbols of indigenous resistance against foreign invasions. Kings who resisted Mughal expansion are elevated as heroes, and their actions framed as part of a noble struggle for the preservation of Hindu culture and sovereignty. The Mughals, despite their long rule and notable contributions to India, are portrayed as foreign conquerors.


This rewriting of history serves a political agenda, one that distorts the complexity of India’s multicultural heritage. It not only inflames divisions but also diverts attention from the urgent issues facing modern India. As the United States announced 26 percent tariffs (now suspended) against Indian goods last week, India’s Parliament was passing a controversial bill that dilutes the power Muslims have over donated property that houses mosques, Muslim schools, graveyards and orphanages. The focus on centuries-old grievances, rather than present-day realities, is a tactic designed to mobilize political support while keeping the country divided.



PENDAPAT 1

 MUMBAI, India — I work as an investigative and political journalist. Two years back, I published a book — after going undercover for eight months — about the complicity of Narendra Modi, now prime minister of India, and Amit Shah, now president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, in riots in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat. I also reported on several extrajudicial murders in the state between 2002 and 2006 that Mr. Shah was accused of being involved in.


Like many of my colleagues, I regularly write and speak about the violence against India’s minorities and lower-caste groups and have called out Mr. Modi’s silence on the violence and his dog-whistle politics.


For the past few years, like several female journalists critical of the Hindu nationalist politics and government, I have been targeted by an apparently coordinated social media campaign that slut-shames, deploys manipulated images with sexually explicit language, and threatens rape. Mr. Modi and several of his ministers embolden the virtual mob by following them on social media.


Yet nothing had prepared me for what was thrown at me in the past month. On April 22, I was alarmed to find a quotation supporting child rapists falsely attributed to me and going viral on Twitter. A parody account of Republic TV, India’s leading right-wing television network, had posted the quotation.


I received numerous messages shaming me for supporting child rapists. A Facebook page called Yogi Adityanath Ki Sena, or the Army of Yogi Adityanath, translated the tweet into Hindi and circulated it on social media. Mr. Adityanath is the firebrand Hindu nationalist monk who was elected the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, last April.


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I tweeted a clarification about the falsehood to no avail: My social media accounts and my phone were inundated with WhatsApp messages urging others to gang-rape me. Various leaders of Mr. Modi’s party, who promoted the lie, refused to delete their tweets despite my pointing it out.


The following day, on April 23, another tweet was generated using Photoshop and attributed to me. “I hate India and Indians,” it said. The online mob asked me to pack my bags and leave for Pakistan, some threatened to tear my clothes and drag me out of the country while invoking the genocidal violence between Hindus and Muslims during the partition of India in 1947.


In the evening, an activist from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu nationalist mother ship, alerted me to a scurrilous pornographic video being shared on various WhatsApp groups. He had received it from a group with many Bharatiya Janata Party members: a two-minute, 20-second pornographic video of a sex act with my face morphed onto another woman.


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Despite our political differences, he was upset at this new low. He urged me to take legal action to keep it from spreading further.


A minute later, he shared the video with me. I was with a friend in a cafe in New Delhi. I saw the first two frames and froze. I wanted to vomit and fought tears. My friend got me a glass of water. “How could they?” I threw up and burst into tears.


I called a friend who worked in tech forensics. He said it was a clear fake, probably produced with a new app called Deepfake. His words did not console me. The video was on my phone and on numerous others across the country.


Minutes later, my social media timelines and notifications were filled with screenshots of the video. Some commented on how prostitution was my forte. I went into a frenzy blocking them, but they were everywhere, on my Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Some commenters asked what I charged for sex, others described my body. Many claiming to be nationalist Hindus sent pictures of themselves naked.


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I started getting screenshots from friends of a Twitter account created in my name. I was doxxed. A tweet with my name, picture, phone number and address was being circulated. “I am available,” it said. Someone sent my father a screenshot of the video. He was silent on the phone while I cried. After a while he spoke in a sad, heavy voice. “I am surprised this did not happen earlier,” he said. “They want to break you. The choice is yours.”


I asked a friend to take charge of my Facebook account and send me screenshots and links of every message posted to my inbox. The reporter in me wanted the digital record, but I shuddered every time my phone beeped.


I have no way of finding out who produced the video. What I do know is this: Most of the Twitter handles and Facebook accounts that posted the pornographic video and screenshots identify themselves as fans of Mr. Modi and his party, and argue for turning India into a “Hindu rashtra” — a country for Hindus only, where religious minorities have almost no rights. I reported several of those accounts to the cybercrime section of the Delhi Police.


That night the administrator of a Facebook page called Varah Sena wrote, “See, Rana, what we spread about you; this is what happens when you write lies about Modi and Hindus in India.” The comment was posted along with the concocted video on Facebook and Twitter. (The page was deleted after I filed the police complaint.)


The slut-shaming and hatred felt like being punished by a mob for my work as a journalist, an attempt to silence me. It was aimed at humiliating me, breaking me by trying to define me as a “promiscuous,” “immoral” woman.


As I collected myself, I thought of Gauri Lankesh, the editor and outspoken critic of Hindu nationalists, who was murdered outside her home in Bangalore last September. She had published my book in the Kannada language.


Several handlers of these social media accounts, who posted and circulated the pornographic video, had celebrated her death. And some of them were and continue to be followed on Twitter by the prime minister of India.


Mr. Modi has repeatedly talked about changing Indian lives through technology. Four years into his term, his followers have indeed found a vigorous use for technology: curtailing criticism and normalizing hatred and misogyny.



Isnin, 12 Ogos 2024

PESAKIT FROZEN SHOULDER

 


Beberapa bulan lepas, aku ada buat part time urut kat pusat rawatan. Masa nak balik tu, admin pusat rawatan tahan aku.

"Tuan, ada pesakit call. Dia kata dia buat urut dengan tuan tadi. Dia kata tangan dia makin sakit lepas buat urut dengan tuan." Kata admin.

"Pesakit yang mana satu ye?" Soal aku. Masa tu kalau tak salah aku, aku ada urut tiga orang pesakit. Tak tahu yang mana satu.

"Pesakit yang nama Razali (bukan nama sebenar)." Admin memberitahu.

Tiba-tiba aku teringat pada pesakit tu. Pesakit tu ada masalah frozen shoulder di sebelah kanan.

"Tuan cakap dengan dia boleh? Dia tengah sakit tu. Dia nak cakap dengan tuan." Admin serah phone pusat rawatan ke tangan aku.

Aku ambil phone tu dan sapa Encik Razali tadi dengan perasaan cuak campur takut.

"Hello." Sapa aku dengan lembut dan sopan.

"Hello, tuan ke yang urut saya tadi?" Soal Razali di hujung talian. Lembut sahaja suaranya. Bagaimana bertemu di depan, begitulah juga dalam telefon. 

"Betul encik." Balas aku.

"Sekarang ni tangan saya sakit sangat lepas urut dengan tuan. Tak boleh nak angkat ni. Nak bawa kereta pun susah. Saya nak kena buat apa ye?"  Dia menyoal. Dengar suara dia sayu sahaja. 

"Encik tuam dengan ais ye. Buat empat jam sekali. Dalam empat jam tu, tuam selama 15 minit kat tempat yang sakit. Sambil-sambil tu boleh buat regangan yang macam saya ajar tadi." Jawab aku.

"Ohh...ye ke? Saya sekarang tengah kerja. Saya pemandu tuan. Bawa boss. Balik nanti kot baru saya tuam. Untuk masa sekarang tak boleh buat apa ye untuk kurangkan sakit ni?" Soal dia lagi. 

"Itu je cara dia tuan. Takpe, balik nanti tuan tuam dengan ais dulu. Buat tiga hari berturut-turut. Pastu lagi dua minggu datang semula. Kita tengok keadaan tuan masa tu macam mana." Balas aku. 

"Okay, baik tuan." Dia pun memutuskan panggilan telefon. 

Lepas panggilan telefon tu, aku tunggu juga dia datang dalam masa dua minggu. Tapi dia tak datang. Aku ada tanya admin, dia ada whatsapp apa-apa tak. Admin kata tak ada. Aku cuma berharap pada masa itu bahu kanan dia dah okay. 

Tiga bulan kemudian dia tempah waktu rawatan untuk buat rawatan dengan aku. Terkejut juga aku. Tiada angin dan tiada ribut, tiba-tiba mahu datang. Sebagai perawat, aku mengalu-alukan kedatangan dia. Aku nak tahu juga keadaan dia selepas tiga bulan. 

"Macam mana dengan bahu tuan lepas buat rawatan tempoh hari?" Soal aku semasa sesi konsultasi. 

"Ada kurang tapi masih sakit lagi. Lepas buat rawatan hari tu, sakit dia, nak angkat tangan pun tak boleh. Lepas tiga hari baru lega. Semalam ada angkat barang. Itu yang sakit balik ni." Dia menjawab. 

"Kenapa encik tak datang lepas dua minggu hari tu?" Soal aku lagi. 

"Takde masa encik. Saya busy. Boss asyik outstation je. Saya pun kena ikut sekali." Jawab dia. 

"Encik ada tak buat regangan macam saya ajar hari tu?" Tanya aku. 

"Kadang-kadang je buat. Kalau ingat saya buat la. Kalau tak ingat, saya tak buat." Dia membalas. 

"Saya harap lepas ni encik boleh buat hari-hari. Kalau harapkan rawatan sahaja payah nak sembuh. Takpelah, hari ni kita buat urut dan bekam angin ye. Balik rumah nanti boleh tuam dengan ais kalau rasa sakit sangat dan terus buat senaman hari-hari." Kata aku. 

"Okay." Balas dia pendek.

PESAKIT MIGRAIN

 



Tengah-tengah lepak tengok drama Korea, dapat call dari seorang pesakit.

"Bang, saya nak datang sekarang boleh tak? Kepala sakit sangat la. Ingat nak buat bekam." Tanya dia melalui telefon. 

"Kenapa kepala sakit?" Soal aku. Risau kalau dia jatuh atau kemalangan. Kalau terjadi dua hal tu, aku nak minta dia pergi hospital dulu. 

"Saya rasa saya kena migrain. Rasa macam nak pecah kepala otak saya ni. Rasa macam nak hantuk kepala kat dinding sebab sakit sangat." Dia mengadu. 

"Okay encik datang sekarang ye." Aku bagi alamat rumah untuk memudahkan dia datang.

Sampai rumah aku, nampak muka dia tengah tahan sakit yang teramat sangat. Aku persilakan dia masuk dan terus buat rawatan.

"Saya ni memang ada migrain. Dah dua tahun saya berhenti minum nescafe. Semalam try la minum. Ingat takde apa. Hari ni datang balik migrain saya." Ujar pesakit itu lagi masa aku tengah urut tengkuk dia.

Habis urut tengkuk, aku bekam kepala dia. Aku fokus pada tempat yang sakit. Habis bekam, sakit dia dah berkurang banyak. Nampak muka dia sedikit lega. 

"Encik jangan minum nescafe atau kopi tau. Takut nanti jadi balik migrain encik." Pesan aku sebelum dia balik. 

"Okay bang. Terima kasih bang sebab tolong saya." Ucap pesakit itu sambil tersenyum gembira.