Bollywood film New York: a national approach - Essay Example

Bollywood film “New York a national approach Introduction: While several Hollywood films have dealt with the of terrorism and specifically the 9/11 incident with its consequent impact upon innocent victims, “New York” is the first Indian film to explore this subject. It concentrates specifically on Indian diaspora living in the United States for one reason or the other, who are all involved in the fall out from the 9/11 incident. The film succeeded beyond all expectations when it was released in India and ranked number one at the box office during the first week of its release in India (Yahoo Movies). The film has done extraordinarily good business in India and raked up impressive revenues in the worldwide market as well, where it has been well received by the Asian community living abroad. This report examines the contribution this film has made to Bollywood cinema and explores some of the reasons which could underlie its phenomenal success in the marketplace. Brief synopsis: The film “New York” explores the theme of 9/11 and the negative impact it had on Muslim students who were at University in the United States, by focusing on the predicament of three Muslim students who attended college together. The story takes place in the year 2008 and commences with the arrest of a young Muslim Omar for suspected terrorist activity, because some guns were found in the boot of the taxicab he drives. An FBI agent, another Asian Muslim man who has lived in the United States for several years, interrogates Omar. During the process, Omar discovers that the FBI had in fact, set him up and arrested him deliberately for one single purpose, i.e., to utilize his contacts with an old friend Sameer, whom they suspect is a terrorist. Omar hasn’t seen Sameer for seven years since they were in college together in 1999, when both of them were friends and loved the same girl. The girl Maya however, preferred Sameer and married him. The FBI agent extracts all the information from Omar about his relationship with both Sameer and Maya and his knowledge of their beliefs and ideals. He agrees to provide some respite to Omar in the charges levied against him, if he would spy on Sameer and collect information on his terrorist activities. Omar finally agrees to provide some assistance to the FBI agent in investigating Sameer’s activities close up, thus he reunites with his old friends who now have a son. He stays in their house while secretly spying on both of them. He discovers that Maya is working with one of Sam’s employees in trying to help him overcome his earlier experience as a detainee, in the aftermath of the 9/11 incident. After several months of detention, the employee Zilgai was released but after his traumatic experience a s a detainee, has had considerable difficulty in adjusting back into a normal life style. Omar also discovers that Sam had also been detained as a suspected terrorist but had later been released due to lack of evidence. The trauma of his experience had embittered Sam towards the FBI and this has led him to resort to terrorist plans as a means for revenge. The film then centres upon Omar, Maya and the FBI agent trying to convince Sam that engaging in a terrorist act would not solve any problem at all, it would only cause other innocent Muslims to suffer for the violence he perpetrates. Sam finally surrenders and drops his plan to blow up the FBI building. But the tragedy is that as he drops the mobile phone that contained the bomb, FBI snipers shoot him in the mistaken belief that Sam is about to drop a bomb on the building. Maya is also killed in the crossfire and the film ends on that note, demonstrating yet again, its underlying message that terrorism only causes more and more deaths. Analysis: This film has used the backdrop of the 9/11 incident as a means to demonstrate how the incident sparked off the latent hostility and prejudices lying beneath the surface of American society and specifically, how this aspect played out on Indian citizens. There are several different rasas or themes that may be noted in the film, but all of them relate to one specific terrorist incident that occurred on 9/11. There are different sub-plots in the film, all of which are linked to terrorism and being the victims of prejudice. The film includes characters from all sections of a spectrum of characters – for example, the FBI agent Roshan is himself an Indian Muslim, while the character of Zilgai is a detainee and Maya is a counsellor who is attempting to rehabilitate him, Omar is a spy for the FBI and Sam is a potential terrorist because he is planning a terrorist act in order to seek retribution for the horrors he suffered when he was detained. The national element may be clearly noted, because all of the major characters in the film are Asian, despite the story taking place in a foreign country. The resolution of the plot also demonstrates some salient aspects of what constitutes the essence of the Indian spirit, i.e., the spirit of sacrifice. The subcontinent boasts of cultural values that promote family feeling and friendship, to the extent that friends are quite prepared to sacrifice anything to preserve their friendship rather than betray it. Omar, at the end of the film, does exactly the same thing, because he finds himself unable to violate the trust that his friend Sam places in him. He cannot bring himself to report on Sam’s activities and have him clapped i jail, because he feels a greater loyalty to Sam who belongs to his own country and was a close friend than to the FBI and the country he is domiciled in. A similar decision is particularly notable in the character of Roshan, the FBI agent, as well. Roshan, as an employee of the FBI, should have had no qualms whatsoever about sending Sameer to his death because as a potential terrorist, he was working against the interests of the United States. But The bond existing between Roshan and Sameer because they are both nationals of the same country comes to the fore at the end of the film, so that he finds himself joining with Omar to try and persuade Sameer to give up the terrorist activity – not necessarily to act in protecting the interests of the United States, but in order to ensure that more of their fellow citizens do not suffer in the same manner that Zilgai and Sam did, as detainees of the FBI, held in connection with possible involvement in the 9/11 terrorist incident. Most of these detainees were subsequently released, but this did nothing to mitigate the horrors and trauma of the experience itself and the sub-plot dealing with Zilgai demonstrates just how tragic such detention was; a fate that was not at all pleasant to subject more Muslims to. Zilgai was so obsessed with the paranoia he developed subsequent to his detention that he reacted badly when a police officer frisked Maya too energetically and shot him, ultimately ending up committing suicide himself. The Indian element in the film is also highlighted through language. In a country like the United States where English is the state language, both Sameer and Maya are fluent in Hindi despite having lived abroad for many years – this is the common bond that unites them and the symbol which establishes the national element in the film, because it sets the characters apart and establishes their place of origin very clearly. This effect is also heightened through the other symbols and artefacts that form a part of the mise en scene; for example, there are the ubiquitous symbols like the characters appearing in their hijabs and kurta pyjamas to establish their Muslim identity. The film also demonstrates other elements specific to Bollywood films, despite being set in the United States and despite dealing with an incident that did not occur on Indian soil. One of these is the song and dance sequences which inevitably form a part of Bollywood films. New York has its share of songs – about eight of them, but some accommodation has been made for the foreign element, i.e, the film also has a specific theme song. The film appears to have succeeded so well because it has cleverly dealt with an important message but has not neglected the commercial element during the process. Bollywood cinema generally tends to fall into the commercial category which revolves primarily around love stories and is replete with song and dance, or the alternative category of art cinema which includes films dealing with serious subjects that do not include song and dance or comedy sequences. The two usually appear to be mutually exclusive and each kind of film has its own separate market, so that a film made on meaningful subjects tends to not be viable commercially, while commercial films may not always appeal to audiences who are looking for more serious subjects for their film viewing. The film New York however combines both these forms and the end result is a movie that combines a meaningful subject with commercial elements, such a song and dance sequences and using well known stars in order to give it box office value. The shots in the film have also been taken very well to enhance the terrorism theme; especially the scenes involving the torture of the suspected terrorists who are detained. The dark , shadowy lighting and the close, tight shots convey a sense of how confining, suffocating and terrifying the experience must have been for those detained by the FBI. When the dialogues appear in Hindi, this only tends to accentuate the Muslim identity of the characters. Conclusions: On the basis of the above, it appears that the film “New York” has been so successful because it has been able to deal purposefully with a meaningful subject, yet couch it in a way that also appeals in a commercial sense. The challenge of establishing national identity within foreign locations has been executed quite successfully in the film, by pulling in a range of Indian characters that cover the entire range of the terrorist spectrum, thereby establishing a unity through establishing national origin. The film has successfully transposed a national identity onto a subject that is foreign on foreign soil. References: Weekend Bollywood Box Office: 26 June - 2 July 2009 Week". Yahoo! India Movies. Read More