In recent years, the Indian film industry has seen a shift in the scene of social cinema with the makers inclining towards making more propaganda films. These films either focus on a social issue (conversion, love-jihad, casteism etc.) or portray the biography of a leader in a very dramatic manner. The chief concern rising out of these movies is, whether the emphasis on propaganda is killing the content and art of cinema?
The latest edition to this plethora of propaganda films is The Diary of West Bengal. The movie, like most of its predecessors, after the release of its trailer, is being criticised for flaws like bad direction, sub-par performances of the actors, over-dramatization, weak plot etc. This case was also seen in other movies like Swatyantra Veer Savarkar, Hindutva, The Accidental Prime Minister etc. even the biopics of leaders like Atal Bihari Bajpayee and Narendra Modi suffered the same fate.
But occasionally we have seen movies with focus on content more than propaganda. The Kashmir Files is the best example of the same. With a great plot, spectacular performances, and visionary direction; the movie hailed as one of the best films of the year. Other movies like Lipstick Under My Burkha, URI: The Surgical Strike, Article 370 etc. are some examples of propaganda movies that turned out really good.
When we look at two films of the same artist, Akshay Kumar; one being Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan and the other being Kesari, we can clearly see the difference. The former was made in a span of 35 days with just the propaganda in mind. As a result the film was badly criticised by the people. Whereas, Kesari is something which can be called a visionary film. Not only did it receive multiple awards, it also did well in the box office.
A film is created by a person, and a person can never keep his biases aside. Every film is biased in its own manner. But when the biases and propaganda becomes more important than content, the movie is lost.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
