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Bollywood: Educational institutions’ failure to absorb students in history frustrated Asmiti, 12th standard. She believed that “history makes a nation unite,” but the education system dulls the subjects and sucks the life out of history. She believed a nation as diverse as India needs history to bond its citizens. Rather than reading boring textbooks, she suggested a few Bollywood movies to watch to gather a more honest and invigorating rendering of Partition. As the largest film industry internationally residing right beside Pune in Mumbai, Bollywood provides a fantastic escape from reality for people of every age. Though the older the viewer the more critical they react to Hindi cinema, even people of an older generation (meaning over 40) knew about the recently released movies. One professor reminded us American students that “Bollywood is fine as long as you forget what’s out here.” Fantasy and luxury sell at the box office, yet even though Bollywood produces an image of imagination rather than realism, many students referred me to Bollywood movies to learn about India’s history. During my five months in Pune “Mangal Pandey” released at theaters to everyone’s delight. The movie told the story of the 1857 Rebellion that commenced the road to independence through the heroism of one soldier who revolted against the British, Mangal Pandey. After I saw it in the theaters and heard the shouts of enthusiasm at the theater, Pune’s entertainment reviews disparaged the movie and crowds weakened. A 12th standard student explained that the movie did not accurately represent the beginning of the rebellion, which spread much further than just Mangal Pandey’s action. I expected a commercial movie to glamorize its main character, though her reaction seemed to trust Bollywood to tell the story accurately. Hindi cinema has so many movies about Indian history under Colonialism and through the independence struggle that many of my friends in Pune trusted as true renditions. Do they normally come from a certain bias? How have movies informed Indian history as popular culture thinks of it? Reflections: The predictability of their bureaucratic education enables students like Mohini, Ameya and Anil to develop their own habits that define their identities. They become accustomed to working within the system to achieve standard academic recognition, and simultaneously cultivate thoughts and lives that rebel against the rigidity of their schooling. Anil spends his time learning experientially, writing articles for The Indian Express and volunteering with children who live in slum areas; Mohini reads constitutional law books that she is tested on, but she spends the rest of her time studying Sanskrit to translate Vedic scriptures. The thoughtful students I met in Pune routinely fulfill the requirements of their educations, complain about the triviality of those requirements, and define themselves without regard to traditional bureaucratic expectations. |
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