I sometimes wonder why I love to watch movies from diverse
regions, even if helped along by subtitles. Perhaps it is because my earliest memories of
movies and television (aka Doordarshan till the 1980s) were about diversity—sometimes
corny, sometimes inspiring and at other times just plain ridiculous—that left
quite the lasting impression.
There was Amitabh Bachchan singing about diversity with the words
‘Aapas Mein Prem Karo’ (Let there be love among us) to quarrelling neighbours from various regions or the amusing ‘Angrezi mein kehte hain…’
(In English we say…) where he taught us how to say ‘I love you’ in a variety of
languages. :D And then, how can one forget that ludicrous scene from Amar Akbar Anthony where an
injured blind mother receives blood from her three sons, all lost and eventually brought up in different
faiths?
It was rousing to watch that beautiful song of national
integration on Doordarshan—‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ (When our melodies come together) and
that lovely song 'Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiyan' (One bird, many birds) by the legendary Vijaya Mulay and Bhimsain from the animated film 'Ek Anek Aur Ekta' (One, Many and Unity). Also, on Doordarshan were
the regional movies with English subtitles shown on Sundays.
Many of them were acclaimed movies that were a dead bore to a young child. But there
were some like the Marathi ‘Pathlaag’ (The Chase) that vowed me with its
storytelling. I was even more delighted to later learn that the Hindi film ‘Mera
Saaya’ (My Shadow) was based on this movie.
That exposure to multiplicity as a child made it seem the
most normal thing in the world to live among people of diverse faiths, who
spoke a variety of languages, wore different clothes, celebrated all types of festivals and ate all kinds of foods. (Ah! That accounts for my love for
regional cuisines! :P) Perhaps living in a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai helped
that along.
Over time, for me, diversity has broadened to include all
manner of things from gender identities, roles and inclinations to the
differently abled, skin colour and more. Acceptance
is key and for acceptance to happen... getting used to seeing ‘the other’ who is
different as ‘normal’ goes a long way. So even if one doesn't have direct exposure to diversity, books, movies and other forms of entertainment are a great way to meet the world out there.
During a workshop when we were asked to think about why we needed diversity, the answer had seemed obvious—innovation or new thought. Without
diversity we would be cycling through the same set of ideas over and over
again. This is the reason that whenever I get the opportunity—whether it was through my work as Editor of Tinkle comics, earlier, or through the talks I have the
honour of giving or even the books I write—I cannot get enough of talking about
diversity... recently, through films. J
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