Rowdy, abrasive, offensive, attacking...can we do it with all?  

I stepped out of Gangs of Wasseypur (GoW) perplexed and melancholic. Aesthetically speaking, this film was at par with previous films of this genre such as Omkara, The Dirty Picture, Once Upon a Time, Pan Singh Tomar and more. I am personally a keen watcher of this kind of cinema and appreciate good work by all the departments of film making.

GoW crossed all the lines and was in your face experience. It epitomizes profanity and machismo, I am afraid to use the term male chauvinism as my male readers may tag me feminist if I tried to show them in bad light in any way. It was less about honor and ego but more about exhibiting creative use of foul language, rowdiness in men, and men’s ways with women’s integrity.

There were sequences which provoked response from ‘guys’ in the audience. I would imagine men among guys would refrain from acting frivolous in public; therefore I am using the term ‘guys’. The response induced was not an applaud but proxy dialogues – highly condemning to say the least – as they were disrespectful towards women and, to a large extent, showcasing them as no more than sex objects.

I am sure the filmmaker read well about the life back then in Bihar however he did not take enough care to show it with great authenticity. In an attempt to make the film commercially viable, he brought in lousiness and frivolity. If the film was meant to be docudrama, educating masses of agitation among cartels post independence, then I would say it did not succeed fully to do so. I doubt many will remember the story more than frantic dialogues.

Such films are entertainers, make you laugh, great deal of art direction and impeccable actors put together an ensemble worth loud applause. However, only for and by the audience that has active faculty called Discretion. There exists a large section of society which is highly susceptible to such content. They can get inspired negatively and are likely to exhibit such behavior in real life.

It was only an intuition when I got out of the theatre but was stamped confirmed by an incident I witnessed in my neighborhood the same night. It was a case of altercation between two neighbors. And it suddenly got intensified to an extent that both families resorted to manhandling and violence. I would not say both the families are the most literate in the colony but decently educated and civilized (now I am doubtful whether they actually are).

I do not know the real reason of the brawl but from what it appeared it started off with verbal exchanges which turned to physical attack. Not that it was for the first time I was witnessing scuffle. The most astonishing bit was young boys in their teens battling from the front. The language was at its worst – I could imagine characters in the movie GoW or others in these guys – that too against women. They showed little hesitance in attacking women with baton and pelting stones at them.

By no means could quarrels like that be passed ‘usual’. They definitely give us a hint that exposure that we are provided is doing little or no good, if not exactly bad, to budding generation. Levels of patience are ever decreasing. We are prompted to raise voice and hands against the weak in wake of protection of honor. There is no sense of respect against elderly and fair sex. And speaking of sex, if it does not come easy, then go and grab it is the attitude. Even if that meant going to the extent of molestation or committing rape.

Our society has matured; level of understanding and exposure is far greater than ever before. Kids are smarter; some say new generation is born with three DNA strands whereas our ancestors had only two DNA strands. More the DNA strands more the intelligence.

At the same time there are rising levels of shrewdness, killer instincts, impatience and abrasiveness. 

Movies too have matured with content being set amidst society. Stories are excavated from past, many a time not too rosy and uplifting. We are tagged to be ‘Accepting bold content’. Yes, we are definitely growing in all aspects but in very small proportion. Not all are ready for such high speed, naked truth of life. Many can get swayed away like those young chaps willfully attacking women with words and baton.