Pollution

 What is 'pollution'? I suppose, most all people would refer to air pollution, water pollution, sound pollution, and so on. Really dangerous these are. If immediately not controlled, especially by the developed countries, all the efforts of the World South in this direction are going to go waste. 

Personally though, i find the other type of pollution, of thinking, of ideation, of imagination, truly vitiating. Let us discuss it. Oh, yes, the current controversy raging wildly! I suppose, the real nasty aspect of the silly song under consideration is its refrain, "besharam rang".

Sure, this consciously crafted refrain seems to have a knowingly provocative crookedness to it. Whatever might be the pretensions of innocence to the contrary, the refrain sure appears to be intentionally teasing even to a neutral observer.

Ideally, however, the response should have been to completely ignore the deliberate mischief, covered up -- incidentally, more completely than Deepika -- under the oh-so- innocent garb of freedom of expression. If it had been totally overlooked, the intended insult, which the concerned people now get a chance to contradict/justify in multiple ways, would have absolutely lost its sting. 

By responding to it, the mass appeal increases. Curiosity whets which could be the marketing strategy of a business smartie. Actually, the song is picturised in the most vulgar and cheap way. I thanked my stars that i did not have to watch it in the company of either any adolescent or the elderly. 

Honestly, initially, i did not realise that most depressingly the depraved dancer was Deepika! Such are the horrible swayings and thrusts, that, too, in the public space, that the entire ensemble unfortunately looks like the typical Sunny Leone type of moves. Actually, to even call it a dance is an insult to a wonderful art. Wonder what the censor board was up to! 

By stoking a raging controversy over a knowingly provocative refrain which, as i said deserved getting overlooked/ignored absolutely, this cheapening of taste, such demeaning of an art form get completely overlooked. These issues do need more discussions actually as they affect an entire way of thinking.

As for the refrain, anyways, the common spectator would have understood the deliberate mischief, and if ideologically involved, would have himself/herself boycotted it anyways, i suppose. Why give ignoble gyrations the grandeur of a great ideological debate!

Of course, the great(!) voices did rumble, now that the dirty monies must be (in)directly involved. I suppose, these days innocence is so much and so early vitiated, so utterly lost that everyone must have understood this game, crafted as per convenience, however covert it may be under the sophisticated bravado. 

In my opinion, all this ugliness is the real pollution that needs to be addressed. Hence i would like to mention here the famous quote that an individual's freedom ends when it consciously encroaches someone else's!

 Let me end my blog with a wonderful interview i enjoyed  the  good luck of conducting. For the New Indian Express, i interviewed Bhishm Sahani who so maturely analysed the touchy topic of the freedom of expression that "ripeness is all" was the only possible response!

Pratima@By stoking ignoble issues, does one make minor moles in to mountains?!?