It's been quite a while since we saw a movie that made us think for a while after the lights of the theatre were up. Karan Anshuman's directorial debut manages to do so to some extent. Written by Puneet Krishna, Sumit Purohit and Karan Anshuman, 'Bangistan' is a satirical comedy on fundamentalism set in the backdrop of global terrorism. The film stars Riteish Deshmukh and Pulkit Samrat as innocent people who are brain-washed to fulfil a ' grand mission' for their faith.
Though the sloppy treatment of film with average acting drags the film backwards, there are still portions in the film that stay with you and make you question certain things about the working of the world.
'Bangistan' have puns hidden between every alternate seen and if you are an aware citizen then can have a great time decoding them and fitting them with the actual references.
Here, we are listing down seven instances from the movie that made us think beyond the movie:
*The story has spoilers. Do not proceed, if you plan to watch the movie this weekend as it would kill the fun.
1) 'Muslims are equivalent to terrorist'
This thinking of the world is shown right in the beginning when Hafiz (Riteish Deshmukh), a call centre worker, gets a good hearing from one of his 'white' customer for being a Muslim. The 'man' calls him a terrorist and threatens him by saying that he will 'blow' him up the same way they've blown Osama-Bin Laden.
Shah Rukh Khan travelled the entire America saying 'My Name is Khan and I'm not a terrorist' but still after 9/11 the Muslims still suffer the doings of Al- Qaeda. It's been high time that the society gets over the fact and start seeing them beyond this stereotype.
2) The meeting at FcDonalds
Hafiz decides to join hands with the 'protector of faith' and goes to work with Al-Kam Tamam (a 'jihadist' group). They all plan a meeting in FcDonalDs and discuss the propaganda and how the western influences have influenced their culture. After the conversation the next thing 'Abba jaan' says is 'Ye tu phir regular drink le aaya?’
A smart scene indeed. People criticising western influence while having a bite of their respective burgers. This is what the society now is. The leaders of culture criticize globalisation while reaping the benefits of it, themselves. They talk about banning 'western influences' sitting in an AC rooms, sipping imported coffee and making plans on their laptop.
3) Hindu’s perception about the Muslims in India
Praveen Chaturvedi (Pulkit Samrat) is a Ramleela actor who is not happy with the progress of 'Muslim' actors before him. He feels that 'they' are taking the higher place in the country dominated by Hindus, getting reservation, attention and everything from the government simply by being the minority. He fears that a day will come when 'they' will be ruling 'us' and we'll be again ruled by them.
Okay, so we clearly know where this is hinting towards; the dynamics and ideologies of few staunch preachers of Hindutva who view the progress of Muslims as a threat to their existence. What they and many others need to understand is, progress is made by them who go way beyond this and believe in the essence of humanity. This is a democracy and the only people who rule here in the end, are the people themselves. Peace.
4) Blind Faith
After a few lectures from their 'Aaka', both, Hafiz and Praveen get brainwashed and agree to be the suicide bombers for their group. They do not question and they are fooled to give up their life for a very pretentious motive.
Well, this is the mentality that has been used by the anti-social elements of the society, to invoke the superficial feeling for a long time. The people who participate in riots and lose their lives are mostly innocent people, brainwashed by the 'supreme authority'. This blind faith has been a hot topic in the recent times with films like 'Oh My God' and 'PK'. 'Bangistan' runs on the same plane. Also, somewhere the scene also shows how the
questioning minds are shut down in a very playful and polite manner.
5) Real religion
When Pavan and Hafiz meet, now disguised as Allah Rakha Khan and Ishwar Chand respectively, they have a casual discussion on religion. Allah Rakha Khan tells Ishwar that the Quran does preach fight but only with oneself, in order to become a better person.
Ishwar too tells Allah Rakha that Krishna never taught Arjun to kill people, instead the voice of Shri Krishana, talks about Karma and Dhrama of being a good human being.
This scene really wins you over for a moment. A muslim man who read Geeta in order to pretend being a Hindu, knows more about its preaching than the real Hindu and vice-versa. So the fact that our religion wants us to kill people in order to establish it, is rock's
thinking. The so called 'know-it-all' tricksters who, in reality, can't even read and understand regular fables, let alone the Vedas and Qurans.
6) Point of view of an atheist
Rosy (Jacqueline Fernandez) tells Allah Rakha and Ishwar that she doesn't believe in any religion. She very casually says the every religion preaches the same thing of becoming a better human and making the world a better place, which she is and will do regardless of any religious tag on her.
A very strong line conveyed so simply. The bottom line of every religion of the world is to make the world a peaceful and better place to live in and humanity to prevail, then why fight for it? No matter who sits on the supreme seat, the preaching are the same, the doings are the same and somewhat the sayings are also same.
7) Third world from the perspective of the first world
Tamim (Chandan Singh Sanyal) meets Ishwar and denies being a Muslim, he refers himself as a 'gora'. Then he takes them to a society and says, ' this is the society for all the third world people'.
Why do we let first world govern our very own perspective? This 'North-South' divide has already created a wide gap between the developed and developing nations, financially, that we are now letting that enter our mindset. While becoming a Global citizen is nowhere a bad thing, but considering yourself inferior to someone and giving them advantage to be superior, shows the lack of self-confidence.
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