India has a National Bird, National Animal and National Flower. Given where the nation is at, I now propose that India should have a National Movie. I vote Kabir Singh be given that honour.
Kabir Singh covers all the shades of self-righteous victimhood. As the movie progresses one sees the changing contours of this sanctimoniousness. It begins with bravado, then shifts to naiveté of the self-righteous. Kabir then fulminates in self-righteous self-assigned martyrdom, before dabbling in holier-than-thou self-mortification. The movie morbidly portrays the unassailable glory that is achieved in the process. It also suggests that society exonerates those committing atrocities when they drape themselves in this victimhood. There is also an unwritten expectation that these neo-victims will vent their angst on the weakest – those unable and unwilling to retaliate.
Let us look at a few instances. The football fight early in the movie; then Kabir keeping potential suitors at bay; Kabir entering the girl’s house to seek permission to marry her, his behaviour at the hearing and finally the response of the woman and her father.
The football match turned into a no-holds war against the opposing football team, as per Kabir, to preserve the pride of the college. In our everyday we see this not only in cricket matches against Pakistan but also in ‘you have made India proud’ spiel blandished on citizens who have accomplished something. The sense of nationhood and national pride is so wanting that there is this constant rummaging for re-affirmation. For a nation so proud of its ancient past that it has chosen to return to it, why this hunger for transitory modern accolades? One can see a trajectory, beginning with Narendra Modi’s 2014 ‘1200 years of servitude’ speech in Parliament and culminating in his ‘respect for India has increased since 2014’ speech made on Sept 28, 2019, after his majestic performance in the US and ensuing triumphant return. One does not suggest that our PM is patting himself for his good work or that his mission has been accomplished.
The keeping potential suitors at bay and marking territory in the reel has its avatar in the real. In the political world the BJP, using law enforcement agencies, has been successful with either destroying the opposition or co-opting them. Free speech and criticism of the current dispensation is being modulated officially and unofficially through raids, arrest, violence and online trolling.
The scene where Kabir asks the girl’s father for her hand is based on the following philosophy ‘an ignored polite request transforms into a threat which forces submission’. The naïve and quiet demeanour of the request couches the self-interest of the requester. Thus, one does not question the morality of the request or the point of view of the requestee. Self-interest garbed in humbleness explodes into ‘look what you made me do’ self-righteous vindictiveness. Thus, the perpetrator is perceived as the victim.
In the movie, this deification of victimhood and the resulting self-righteousness comes to the fore in the medical enquiry. When Kabir accepts his culpability of operating on patients while on a high, the audience and those in the board are struck dumb. Maybe, they are not accustomed to such truthfulness or to his gall of mischaracterising his behaviour as a form of masochistic penance. But the respect for this man disregards the fact that his self-absorption put his patients in danger. What comes across is his commitment to medicine, his skills as a surgeon and the sacrifice he made by treating patients in his drunk, drugged lovelorn state.
The current environment in India has been fostered from the lament from certain quarters about this land being a victim of invasions and colonialism and, now as a free nation, of Congress rule. It is used as a rational for behaviour that is bigoted and divisive which is threatening the bonds that hold this nation together.
And finally let’s look at the behaviour of Kabir’s victims– his family, his girlfriend and her father. That they all forgave him and even asked for his forgiveness despite the pain he had caused them, and others, suggests a veneration for personal mortification. It would not be wrong to say that they are presenting him with a free pass to commit atrocities, even if they bear the brunt of it. The sacrifice his family, friends and lover were forced to make for Kabir make them the real victims and heroes, more so because they are unacknowledged and made to look narrow minded and mean spirited.
That the audience saw this movie as a love story is not astounding. Today, nationalism implies calling critics of Hindutva anti Indian and even thrashing them. Fortunately, though viewers and Kabir’s well-wishers failed to see the danger Kabir posed to himself, his patients and themselves, Indians are responding to the dangers posed by those claiming to be victims and propounding this narrative.
Kabir Singh was one of the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2019 which sanctifies its story. Narendra Modi in his 2019 speech at the UNGA stated that he and the Bharatiya Janata Party had won the largest mandate in the recent national elections. Undeniably, victimhood sells.
That Kabir Singh with all his misogyny, selfishness and disrespect for others can be transformed into a hero says something about the creatives behind the movie and the audience. We may not have an option in changing the movie’s end, but we sure have a say in the direction this country is taking.
Should the country’s leaders promote a narrative of victimhood for this land which provides them with a platform to act like heroes? In other words, do Indians want their love for India to be manufactured in the Kabir Singh mold – narrow minded, selfish and destructive? Or can this nation rise above a past not of their making to build a secular future.
(Samir Nazareth is an author and writes on socio-economic and environmental issues)
