Mission Mangal is all set to hit the screens on August 15. A movie about the success of Chandrayaan Mission to Mars or MOM as we were all humming. It was and will always be one momentous occasion which will be cherished by generations of Indians as there was a lot of buzz when the mission first succeeded.
The film to me is more advertisement than infotainment. I might sound offensive. I might also sound “anti-national” but I have a strong reason behind this cribbing that goes way beyond the movie. It doesn’t mean I am not proud. But such an attitude shows the very selective nature of Bollywood in its choice of films.
When we talk about films in the current scenario, it is hyper-political and puts the very idea of infotainment in bad taste. Bollywood is highly accustomed to making films which can be plotted in a couple of months, even within a year or two, given the vast pool of information made accessible through the worldwide web. I sat back and thought for a while pondering over the reason behind such selective nature of Bollywood when it comes to non-fictitious films?
Why is Bollywood so cocooned and not open to exploring about railways when railways have had equal number of achievements and even more? We saw the first high-speed long-distance train Rajdhani in 1969, first high-speed intercity train in 1988, the first Computerized Passenger Reservation System in 1988, the first semi-high-speed rail route – the Konkan Railway in 1998, the first semi-high-speed Gatiman Express in 2015 with drivers Pankaj Kumar Garg and Sudesh Kumar at the helm who shall be cherished in the years to come as the pioneer loco pilots hauling the first semi-high-speed train. And, the recent Train 18, with project chief S Mani, carving a niche for Indian Railways’ presence in the global railway community.
Misadventures And Cliche Topics?
It is to be noted that Bollywood did try its luck with the railways in 1980 with BR Chopra’s The Burning Train. Much to the dismay of the viewers, some unrealistic scenes and excessive exaggeration can be cited as few reasons behind the downfall of the movie. Since then, we never saw any Bollywood movies dedicated to the subject of railways nor the great men behind such an establishment, burying them in the pages of history. Thus, they remain unseen in the eyes of the common man until someone from the West decides to dig into the history of the railways, while our Bollywood fraternity picks subjects with harsh sentiments attached to the people of India, mostly pivotal to issues involving Pakistan, making infotainment a process of rewriting to the point of saturation.
Why is it that Bollywood is so fiercely driven by topics which would take our society backwards and help them achieve their overrated publicity? Can we not think about unconventional topics such as the railways and the people who have scaled heights and drive railways on the global front, like MS Gujral, Sreedharan, Pankaj Kumar Garg and Sudesh Kumar, S Mani? We need to forego any and all misadventures that we have had and think afresh.
Of late, we have been dwelling too much into the political discourses, which need to come to a close. We need to think of railways beyond the DDLJ romance and the reunion of Kajol and Aamir Khan in Fanaa. Railways are more than just typical Bollywood romances that we can think of.
Hollywood, on the other hand, has surpassed Bollywood by making remarkable films like Unstoppable who have in the true sense helped people form a contrast opinion of the railways and ts employees and promote a greater appreciation in the common audience, which the Bollywood has miserably failed to do in so many years.
They Deserve Recognition Too
Mission Mangal is a humble attempt to bring to light our achievements and make known to the world, our capabilities of exploring the infinite space. But over the years we have forgotten the fact that the world is more awed by our railways than any other achievement that we have registered or can think of. There stands a reason why BBC has made innumerable documentaries on the richness of our railways, be it our history, our management, our technical feats (Chris Tarrant in his Extreme Railways Series presented on our engineering marvel Konkan Railways); we have highly distinguished railwaymen like Sreedharan who have been highly spoken of in books and documentaries, but much of their lives remains unknown for people who might have no interest in the very subject of railways.
We have millions of railway employees who have been creating history and remain unsung, just because we choose content on what interests the audience who want VFX and visual effects. It is, however, to be noted that there exists an audience, people like me, who wish to appreciate the unsung and unknown. Media highlights these unsung geniuses for a very short period of time, but they are people who are capable of inspiring the young generation.
Inspiration does not come from overrated nationalism and propaganda, but it comes from identifying diverse people in various fields and also help people know the other side of railwaymen, and the challenges they have also faced in the course of their quest for achieving the greatest goals which have shaped the modernization of Indian Railways. We need to create an inspiring, and not an obsessive, environment for the audience, which Bollywood does not realize and it eventually ends up promoting an obsessive environment.
The Railways is not a subject in isolation, but an equally economic instrument worthy of deserving the recognition, which it, unfortunately, enjoys neither in the infotainment fraternity nor the audience.
Getting Out Of The Comfort Zone
It is unfortunate that Bollywood loves to stick to its comfort zone. There is a greater reason behind the lack of interest in the subject of railways. One of the reasons being the need for a high level of accuracy which the Indian population wouldn’t wish to venture into. This is a tedious and uncomfortable research zone, given the lack of cozy rooms and the need to travel by trains, which the directors and the celebrities wouldn’t prefer; they would rather prefer a more premium travel in railways than take the trains which reflect the real India.
It is, therefore, required that we come out of our whole notion of comfort and our addiction to information sourced from Google. We need to be more realistic and vigorous in our choice of films and little more open to topics such as railways and show respect to the people who help in shaping our railways.
It is only possible if Bollywood sacrifices its comfort zone, if it truly wants to diversify infotainment. Infotainment is not a monologue approach, instead it involves exploring the unexplored. Let’s not drag politics and nationalism everywhere, if we are to be entertained and informed.