Shah Rukh Khan toh hain hazaaron mein akela

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Circa 2020, Location: Mehboob Studios (it will still be around then, I guess!), film: 'Wake up Sudhakar'

-A middle aged Ranbir Kapoor's getting ready to play a 21 year old wayward youth, not knowing what it means to be a proper 'Mumbaikar'...Ranbir Kapoor is in deep discussion with his director ...which goes something like this...

Ranbir Kapoor: "We can't say this dialogue, has this been cleared by MNS? Can my character be called 'Raj?' Did we check with all the Thackerays??

Back to the present....which is tense...

So despite the fact that there seems to be no perceptible threat to the Hindi film industry at large, its time that the Hindi film fraternity stands up for their own...Especially when certain politically motivated individuals mix some comments to their own political agendas which could lead to a situation which could spiral into something akin to 'dictatorship'... to a point where directors, writers and producers will have to line up to meet the 'powers' that be to get a 'creative license' which would permit them to make stories that would first meet the requirements of the 'Sena(s)... So a scenario in the future, where film scripts will have to first go through the 'Thackeray(s)' of the city to meet their reel fate, is very much on the cards...

So yes SRK made a comment, yes he had an opinion, and yes we can react to it and yes...we may like or may not adhere to his views. And yes...others can say whatever they want to. But to resort to threats to damage property, to threaten that if someone holds a particular point of view then they deserve to be 'dealt with'. Well its time for people to speak up...especially a fraternity which prides itself to call it an 'industry'...if not now, then forever they will have to hold their silence. A tightly gagged silence.

Of course it's not yet calamity, its not as if they have destroyed theatres...well...they have not done it ...'yet'. And perhaps it's for this 'yet' that the industry needs to stand up for. Today 'they' will want you to be punished for 'having favorable opinions towards a country'; tomorrow it could be anything...from growing a beard to wearing a mini skirt.

So is Shah Rukh Khan being isolated for being what he is a 'Khan'... a Muslim...or is he being isolated because the industry itself is scared enough of taking a stance against a body that prides itself on 'goondaism'? Whatever it is...perhaps its time the Industry stopped changing Bombay to Mumbai to satisfy a few individuals...perhaps its time to know that sometimes its ok to say that 'yes the film is about the 1993 riots', if someone has a problem let them take the legal route...not the laathi route! Perhaps its time to tell a few individuals that Mumbai 'kisike baap ki jagir nahi hain...it's for every Indian and belongs to every Indian...who can have their own views and also have the basic democratic right to voice it, if they want to!