Bollywood films showing Muslims as villains is offensive: Zeba

ET: Pakistani actress Zeba Bakhtiyar, who played the title role in the film Heena, says her countrymen feel offended when Bollywood potboilers depict Muslims as villains.

"Pakistanis love to watch Bollywood films. But they feel awful and offended as all the villains portrayed in them are Muslims. I always feel that religion is one's private affair and a way of life," the actress said.

Speaking about her own experiences during the filming of "Heena" in the early 90s, Zeba said she was first apprehensive of coming to India to shoot for the movie directed by Randhir Kapoor.

"It was because I was naive and not accustomed to the functioning of the film industry. But, all my fears vanished when I came to Mumbai and met the Kapoors," the actress-turned-director said during a seminar at the third South Asian Film Festival (SAFF) here today.

Zeba had to face strong opposition in her home country for her decision to work in an Indian film. "That was a time when India-Pakistan relations were not at its best. Besides, people in Pakistan thought that since it was a Raj Kapoor film, there would be exposure and the theme would be anti-Pakistan," she recalled.

The filmmaker said there were several stories in the South Asian region that could be translated into good movies.

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As I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I believe movies (the mainstream, the popular fare) are more of a reflection of what society thinks and not that it is the movies which influence the thinking of a society. Hence one should not be surprised to see Muslims being shown as enemies in movies. After all since the early nineties the biggest of the villainous events in India has involved Muslims - from Kashmir, to Kargil, Bombay blasts to America's 'war on terror' and most of the never ending blasts that keep going off across the country.

Critics and secularists might argue otherwise. But the psyche of the average Indian today says that there is some correlation of violence by Muslims and their belief in Islam. This is not restricted to just the Hindus. Across religions, even the Muslims feel that they are being related so. No I'm not stating that the Islam or Muslims equate violence. For people who know me closely will vouch that I'm the most anti-Hindutva/anit-Islamisization candidate and equally anti-generalization of the “Islam=Terrorism equation”. What I'm stressing here is the change in perception of people around me, the common milieu. It is no longer a feeling restricted to the intellectuals and fundamental thoughts of the Sangh bastion. Over the past decade or so it has seeped into the common man on the streets.

This feeling of course is not affecting the daily transactions. And basic level the brotherly feeling, friendships etc. still remain. Religion still does not come in between daily business transactions. But I see the common man cringe when the politicians announce vote bank saving pro-Muslim policies. I find fewer people among the "younger generation" supporting the secular idea, the usual group where people debunk the religion based rifts.

A final argument: many will agree with the portrayal of police and politicians as corrupt and selfish in the popular media. Same is the case current with Muslims. It’s about popular perception. The reality could be that a majority of creed are actually like that or that the infamous ones are bending perceptions. It calls for better management of perception by the victims and more restraint by the popular media.

---Vj