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“Violence, violence, violence…” okay, we won’t be completing this iconic KGF: Chapter 2 dialogue, because it’s all over the internet and unless you’re not coming out straight from under a rock, you’ll fill the blank. By reading the title of the story, you’re already aware of why we chose this dialogue to start this ‘important’ (read: trending) conversation between us.
When you see ‘action’ as a genre, or even read its textbook definition, it says “Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats.” The definition in itself involves ‘violence’ (it involves ‘involve’ as well – bad joke, ik). But there’s a very thin line between action & violence which many fail to get it (just like they won’t get the sarcasm in this piece).
Is the action done for a ‘right cause’, violence? Well, that would again depend on who’s deciding what’s right/wrong. There’s been a hot debate about how films like KGF: Chapter 2, Pushpa & many such ‘pan India’ films are designed to provoke violence. Few (being the keyword here) ‘real-life’ incidents have also been conveniently highlighted to ‘moral-police’ the crowd-pulling South Indian films for promoting violence in them.
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We just have one question for those who are blaming these films, did you ask the same question when movies like Dhoom, Darr, Special 26 and many other such movies did the same thing? Because, if you didn’t, then this my friend, is hypocrisy & you can leave this article right here. But, if you’re from the smarter lot, stay back and carry on reading, because we’ve some serious things to discuss.
For those who are confused about why I took the names of these particular films in the above paragraph, it’s because these films have inspired crimes in real life. This is how cinema has always been. Inspired by Dhoom, 80 KG of gold and Rs 5.5 lakh in cash were stolen from a Bank of Kerala. Criminals themselves agreed they got this idea from the film & they did all this by digging a hole in the floor of the vault room. A Snapdeal employee (Dipti Sarna) was abducted by a psychopath, who then also was said to be ‘deeply inspired’ by Shah Rukh Khan’s Darr.
By the same logic (as the baseless debate) didn’t Bollywood’s one of the biggest blockbusters ‘Gadar’ (77 crores lifetime back in 2001) promote violence? Or that’s not counted because Tara Singh did what he wanted to for the country? ‘Baahubali‘, ‘RRR’ writer KV Vijayendra Prasad summed up the debate in a few simple lines (in a conversation with Times Of India) & said “The aggression for righteousness is not violence. A producer is not publishing a book here, he is investing crores of rupees in making a movie, he’ll think of the ingredients that will bring back his money. If you find an unarmed person is getting hurt then you may call it violence.”
Even movies like War (lifetime box office: 319 crore), Tiger Zinda Hai (339.16 crore) Raees (139.21 crore) have earlier promoted violence through their action sequences. And upcoming biggies like Shamshera, Animal, Pathaan, Fighter, and Tiger 3 will also have violence. But, we won’t see a single article around them highlighting similar issues which are pin-pointed for KGF: Chapter 2, Pushpa, Beast.
No, we aren’t going in the direction of “if it’s never been spoken, don’t say it now” but don’t choose the time to say it as per your convenience because that doesn’t look nice. Many netizens have already expressed their disbelief on this opinion calling it a ‘planned, sponsored move’ by Bollywood Mafia. Action is the genre which heavily depends on the violence but it also gets backed by some solid drama. If a person doesn’t learn how Yash’s Rocky had this soulful bond with his mother, and he/she learns how to be a ‘crime-lord’ like him, then it says a lot about us as a society as well.
Going by similar logic, movies like Phir Hera Pheri, Ladies VS Ricky Bahl, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, and Bluffmaster also promote new ideas of scams for scamsters to learn from. Do you guys want to mellow down the comedy genre as well? In other words, do you want to be the Will Smith slapping Chris Rock? (Now, that was real violence & we don’t know what film Smith saw to get inspired from. ‘Gone Girl’, maybe [divorce joke]).
So, to conclude the debate, are movies like KGF: Chapter 2, Pushpa promoting ‘too much’ violence? If you think you could be Yash, Allu Arjun & fight 10s of bad guys at once, you must’ve already tried that during Shootout At Lokhandwala or Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. If a current lot of pan-Indian films feature violence, it’s layered with larger-than-life heroism and movies will continue to inspire people. It’s just on us as the audience to understand what bits to get inspired from, else there will be no films left to really get anything from them. What are your thoughts? Shoot in the comments section below.
