Famous Indian director bombed for 'Bombay'

By Pavan Kapoor

JAKARTA (JP): Mani Ratnam, the director of a controversial Indian film denounced by Moslem fundamentalists, was injured when three bombs exploded in his house earlier this month.

An acclaimed director from southern India, he zoomed up the ladder of success with his riveting hits Roja and the latest film for which he almost lost his life, Bombay. The films deal with factional political turmoil, but have love stories woven in to dampen the caustic fare.

Political pandemonium has finally forced Indian producers to swing their cameras away from superficial topics and focus on the aggression that civilization and social incompatibility is pushing humankind toward.

After concentrating on dramatic muscular twitches while prancing in the rain and bursting into song when the actors happen to find themselves wrapped around a tree, Indian cinema is discovering more serious topics. Mani Ratnam commands a pivotal role in this sluggish but definite transformation.

Dismantling taboo topics and flaunting their westernized impact in music and theme has established Mani Ratnam as the director of the 1990s.

Peeling our dilated pupils away from scintillating pelvic gyrations and the bloody, revengeful cop and robber thrillers are certain soft and yet serious films: a sight for sore eyes. After feasting on films like the controversial Roja and Bombay, one feels as though Mani Ratnam has donned the cloak of a disc jockey to blast the tango out with a waltz.

Serious films have always pulled in middle and upper class Indians, but films like Bombay portray scenes that not long ago haunted the same people. Many still bleed from wounds very fresh in their memory.

While Roja is about the vehement fighting in the northern state of Kashmir, Bombay covers an international disturbance in the city of Bombay. The 1995 blockbuster has grabbed the title of being the most controversial film of the year. Bombay, India's Hollywood, is the nucleus of the Indian film industry and had matured abysmal roots when the peace was shattered by communal riots in 1992.

With a tear-jerking theme supported by top Indian actor Monisha Koirala and music producer A. Rahman, Bombay will likely topple all box office records.

Never before has any director made a film about an event that has so recently wrought extensive trauma and havoc.

The story begins in a small town in southern India where the principals, Monisha and Shekar, fall in love. Because they belong to different castes, they are hounded by their families and elope to Bombay. They live in fairy-tale happiness and bring up twin boys as children of God rather than that of any particular religion. This fairy-tale, however, doesn't have a happy ending.

The story is pleasantly lulling until riots break out and the city of Bombay goes berserk. The scenes are bone chilling. The carnage peaks when the twins are caught by rioters crazed with violence. When asked which religion they belong to, the boys respond "both" (Islam and Hindu) and the disbelieving rioters pour a can of patrol over their heads.

This is definitely a film that should be translated into the languages of all nations suffering communal violence.

Although the film has created a much needed national awareness about ethnic violence, and its tremendous impact has enshrined Mani Ratnam as a national hero in some eyes and a villain in others, it is indeed disheartening to hear about film directors being the target of terrorists.

"Gone are the times when people looked at the law to settles personal disputes - nowadays the rule of the jungle is if you don't like somebody don't say a word to him, just go ahead and bomb him," says film critic Allwyn.