Famous Indian director bombed for 'Bombay'

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.