Oscars 2017: India still in a warp of stereotypes

Great movie makers vault over national and cultural barriers. They dredge up deeply personal traumas, delve deep into the human psyche and explore themes of existential crisis and become cross-culturally cosmopolitan.

Barring a few movies like Dangal, we wonder whether Indian movie-makers can ever be successful in their struggle against orthodox thinking and celebrate diversity of cultures and faiths to aspire for an Oscar in the near future.

A glimpse of what happened at the Hollywood ceremony recently is quite instructive. Iranian director Asghar Forhadi whose ‘The Salesman’ won the Best Foreign Film category didn’t attend the ceremony but was forthright in his condemnation of anti-immigrants policy of the US President Donald Trump.

‘The Salesman’ deals with a couple, craving for peace and justice after the wife is attacked at their Teheran apartment and symbolises the fight for immigrant rights after the travel ban by the US. Forhadi said that his absence at the awards ceremony was “out of respect for the people of his country and those of six other nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US.”

He blasted the myth of American suzerainty saying that, “Dividing the world into the US and our enemies creates fear – a deceitful justification for aggression and wars. These wars prevent democracy and human rights.” Filmmakers can now turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. Seizing the opportunity, many movie directors drew the attention of the world to their origins as immigrants or minorities or foreigners also.

Tarell Alvin Mc Craney who became the first ever black actor to receive the Oscar for best adopted screen play, ’Moonlight,’ struck the nail on the head when he said that his Oscar Award “goes out to all those black and brown boys and non-gender conforming who don’t see themselves.” Mexican actor Gael Garcial Bernal came down heavily on Trump, saying, “As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, I am against any form of wall that wants to separate us.”

Academy President Cheryl Bone Isaacs just wanted Trump to learn that, “Art has no barriers, no single language and does not belong to a single faith.” The Oscar winning documentary ‘The White Helmets’ made a pertinent appeal to the governments around “to stop the bloodshed” and focussed on “Syrian first responders, rescue workers who risked to save their lives to save Syrians battered by the internecine civil war now in its sixth year.’’

The Academy Awards which were criticised in the past for being “too white’’ seem to have made amends when six black actors were nominated for Oscars 2017. The Oscar film fraternity has, indeed, shattered Trump’s dreams to make America ‘a great racist nation(?)’ again.

By: S M Kompella