If you’re an ardent fan of Bollywood and have watched its movies answer this: How many times have you seen Bollywood portray a Northeastern, tribal (or any other minority) character as a protagonist?
Well, I know the answer to that one because I can actually count it on my fingers. The problem with Bollywood and its horrible representation is that it caters to only a certain audience – and in this process, many minority communities are left out. Movies play a great role in influencing young minds and it’s saddening when they don’t see any characters on screen who look like them or with whom they can relate to.
Mainstream Bollywood movies which show the normal day-to-day life of people consist mostly of upper-caste Hindu characters – and even if there is a character belonging to a minority community, then the theme will be such that it will be important to have them as the protagonist. People all over the world and in India applauded the film “Black Panther” for its accurate representation of the black community, but when it comes to our own cinema, how often do you see people from minority communities being represented on screen?
Even when there is a need to actually cast indigenous people in their respective roles, Bollywood misses the point – for instance, the way Priyanka Chopra was cast as Mary Kom in her biopic, while they couldn’t use an actor from the Northeast to play the role. How hard is it to find one? I feel like Bollywood doesn’t give many opportunities to indigenous people to showcase their talents, along with the onslaught of nepotism and many other factors.
Let’s also talk about how the makers of “Udta Punjab” chose Alia Bhatt to portray a Bihari and went through the trouble of making her three shades darker. Instead of casting an authentic Bihari woman, Bollywood chose to take a high-profile actress and make her darker for the movie’s sake.
There are so many such examples. For instance, why cast Ajay Devgn as a sardar in “Son of Sardar”, when you can just let some real-life sardar portray themselves on the screen!
Representation is important for everyone. It teaches us about the different cultures around the world – and most importantly, it makes the minority communities feel like they belong when they see someone just like them in the mainstream media. So many children don’t like how they look or what their name sounds like, just because no one on TV looks like them or has a similar identity. So, Bollywood needs to step up its game in representing minority communities, because representation has the power to show us and help us unleash our true potential.