I  am not much of a Hindhi movie buff but somehow I happen to see many of the movies because of the company I keep. There are two Hindhi movies which I saw last week - 'Om Shanthi Om' and 'Sawariya'.

The much hyped Sawariya is based on the novel 'White Nights' by Dostovesky. It is horribly picturised and so intolerable that I had to walk out of the movie after thirty minutes. After the huge pre-launch publicity this movie featuring two new Stars is relegated as a flop. Being a Dostovesky fan I am now on the look out for the english movie based on 'White Nights'.

'Om Shanthi Om' is the other blockbuster movie to hit the box office. It is proving to be the biggest hit of the year. This movie has all the elements, spices and masala of Hindi cinema and is quite an entertainer. This movie is a spoof of the bollywood of the 70s.  Reincarnation is the main theme of the movie. A young aspiring non descript junior artist is in love with the leading actess of the 70's. He dies along with her while saving her from her husband who kills her by burning up a big building.  He is reincarnated as the son of a bollywood star and starts up in his new life as a superstar. He also inherits the traits of his previous life, recollects  them and fulfills all his aspirations from his previous life. He eventually takes revenge on the person who had killed him in his previous birth. Karma is a recurring theme in this movie. The hero of the movie repeats several times in the film that life is a cycle and as you sow so shall you reap.  This is a cookie cutter bollywood movie with typical elements like poor boy falls in love with rich and famous girl, disappointment and breavement, elaborate song and dance sequences, good versus bad, hope and retribution even spanning across lifetimes.  Also it features the number one reigning superstar Shah Rukh khan as the hero of the movie. No wonder it is a box office hit.  There have also been other bollywood movies like 'Karz', which had reincarnation as its main theme.

Bollywood and Indian television are accussed by some sections of the media that it propogates the mainstream culture of Hindus. This accusation is made by many 'Progressive' thinkers in India who are very much into Hindu bashing and they take pride in sub altern and leftist themes in cinema. Bollywood itself is an offshoot of the tradition of Dance-Drama of Indian folk theatre. This is quite an old tradition and probably dates back to Bharatha's natyashastra, Kalidasa and Bhasa. In a way every bollywood movie has the typical elements of love, hate, song, dance, tragedy, comedy and fantasy. Bollywood directors have the strange knack of stealing hollywood themes and fitting them into the dance drama mould of Hindi cinema. But finally they like to produce what sells.

Some of these sub altern writers are now wondering why 'Om Shanthi Om' showcases Hindu ethos inspite of having a muslim director, Farah khan and produced and starred by the muslim Shah Rukh khan. The movie showcases hindu customs like breaking coconuts during Muhurat, depicts reincarnation and karma which are all the usual Hindu customs and beliefs. Of course most of the characters in the movie are Hindus.

 Ramachandra Guha, the leftist historian and author from Bangalore has mentioned in one of his books that there are two things apart from the demoractic state which keeps indian people united. The two are bollywood and cricket. Now with the subaltern studies getting increased funding from christian and muslim organizations, these two fields have come under attack as many claim that these represent the worldview and lifestyle of the upper caste people in India. The caste concious sub alterns accuse that cricket as a game is dominated by the upper caste people, they completely ignore the cricketers from other castes and religions. Bollywood has its share of muslim hereos and heroines but again they all work towards the same hindu worldview and message. This irks the so called progressive thinkers. They want and dream of a world which has no elements of hinduism in it. Over the years they have built up effective propoganda to demonize and reduce hinduism. They had movies on so called progressive themes which never could match the popularity and success of the surreal bollywood  melodramas.

Inspite of so much of propoganda it is indeed strange how the modern day bollywood dramas have survived and thrived. But one thing quite noteworthy is Bollywood has never showcased hatred towards communities other than the imagined hatred by these sub altern writers. The overall message of harmony, peace and love projected by Bollywood is quite noble. Except for some stray violent and jingoistic themes there is not much of divisive themes in Bollywood films.  Like the hindu puranas most films are noble fairy tales.

Bollywood is also quite popular in many asian and african countries. It is the largest film industry going by the sheer number of films it churns out every year. In a way  Bollywood acts as a messenger for the Hindu propoganda machinery.  Hinduism lacks the missionary zeal and evangelizing mission of the christian and islamic religions and also it has very little defence against devious designs of the petro dollar and cash rich mullahs and missonaries. And it is through these mediums it keeps the culture intact and as long as it is humanistic why should anyone bother. Some of the themes might be unrational and superstitious but as long as it does not espouse hatred it is much preferred.