Rise of The Movie Mafia

“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” — Lord Acton.

The rise of Youtube yuppies like TVF Pitchers and All India Bakchod is gradually becoming a menace in India. If the escalation in class divisions, bigotry and hate — because of them — wasn’t enough now there are multiple charges of sexual harassment against Arunabh Kumar, the head of TVF Pitchers. It is alarming that numerous women have come out and spoken against him. [1]

TVF and AIB are a movie mafia supported by the ruling yuppies and their mindless disciples. Bash mainstream Hindi cinema (so-called Bollywood) and you are set for life in India. These bastards think that they can get away with anything because of that. Unfortunately, they are right. They understand the psyche of gullible Indian yuppies. But it’s not just the yuppie crowd that cowers to them. Indian media and politicians are desperately defending them, slandering the women who dared to speak against him. The victims of rapes and sexual harassment already face so much discrimination in India. It’s such a shame that these yuppies who claim to champion female empowerment (by watching Karan Johar’s movies) are so dismissive of the numerous charges against the TVF’s pervert — just because he likes so-called highbrow movies. It’s so easy to manipulate the sheep-minded yuppies. Arnuabh Kumar and cronies make a video on the Indian Army, click selfies with them, denigrate Aamir Khan, suck up to Shobhaa De and Anurag Kashyap, give thumps up to a patriotic movie — and they are declared as modern icons of India. It is that easy to appease them.

Liberalism is a myth in India. Most of the people in India think that being liberal means watching Anurag Kashyap’s movies, American TV shows and bashing the Right-wing Hindus and Muslims. Arunabh Kumar is to them what Donald Trump is to Klu Klux Klan. Strangely, even the Right-wing Hindus are fearful of TVF and cronies. His sheep-minded fans lack reasoning skills or the ability to think for themselves. If they cannot come up with a justification, they resort to abuse. They make fun of Godmena and bhakts but ironically they are worse than them. TVF and AIB have an information technology cell that harasses people who criticise them. In India it’s to criticise Narendra Modi but not many people have the guts to criticise the likes of TVF and AIB. The dangers of film fanaticism are real.

Two men chant “allah-u-akbar” before shooting down a crowd, they are quickly labelled as terrorists and Islam comes under scrutiny. But when a fan of Dark Knight goes on a killing spree at a cinema, the “terrorist” word isn’t used, nor does Hollywood come under any scrutiny. Why do movie buffs get away with things that theists don’t? The men who chanted “allah-u-akbar” probably had nothing to do with Islam. Islam condemns killing of any human. Whereas, it was well-known that the Dark Knight fan was fanatical about Hollywood movies. It doesn’t even matter what religion that Dark Knight was fan was of — he could be Christian, Muslim or an atheist. His fanaticism for highbrow cinema saved him from criticism.

There will be less intolerance in the world for at least a few days, as IMDB has shut down its message boards. It’s great move because IMBD was becoming a hub of radicalised movie buffs. The amount of brainwashing going on there would have put Nazis to shame. Some people have called it a death of “meaningful discourses on cinema” but obviously those Fascists have no clue about what meaningful discourses on cinema are. Obviously those Philistines have never read a book in their lives and they think that watching some idiot’s Youtube channel makes them an intellectual. If anything, the shutting down of message boards has hopefully saved a few lives.

Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap — the darlings of India — shamelessly support these channels. TVF and AIB aren’t just Youtube channels or film fanatics, they are death cults. They revel in depression, bigotry and destruction. To them life begins after death. If these people take over, India can become the next Iran or North Korea. A few years ago, when a the Godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan (The MSG wonder) was accused of rapes, his disciples turned riotous. Anurabh Kumar’s yuppie breed is likely to take the same route in future. He and his cronies are the Godmen of Yuppies.

Source: [1] TheQuint

Politics of Guilt

Social activism is easy these days. All you have to do is watch serious cinema or dark cinema. That’s all you have to do — just be a couch potato who watches “good” films and you will become an intellectual. Movie buffs have become like that character in the 1980s’ Twilight Zone series (“The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon”) who has to keep running an extremely complex contraption to keep the earth spinning smoothly in its orbit. Movie fanatics do the same by watching “serious” movies to save the world from moral degradation and endemics.

Cinema was a medium of art and entertainment but now it is a medium of propaganda and guilt politics. Misplaced austerity has replaced art and propaganda (guilt politics) has replaced entertainment. Filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap and his crony Youtube channels use guilt politics to sell their movies. They guilt-trip or even intimidate people who prefer feel-good cinema. They have turned optimism and happiness into pure guilt. Now the darker a film is, the better it is considered than a feel-good movie; the sadder the ending, the more stars it gets from critics. Every time people prefer larger-than-life entertainment, they are reminded of the dark realities of “real” world and held responsible for everything wrong with the society. Those who watch dark movies are considered intellectually superior to those who prefer entertainment. This is pure politics of guilt to manipulate people. Why is only entertainment in cinema singled out? If entertainment is evil, then should’t all forms of entertainment be banned? Shouldn’t people be guilt-tripped for watching cricket or football? If escapist cinema is a sin, then they should also stop partying and drinking alcohol. It is another thing that these arbitrary bastards will die if they cannot go to a disco every Saturday night. For education there are books. Reading expands one’s horizons and broadens one’s vocabulary. But of course, these Philistine bastards have probably never read a book in their lives and their rickety attention spans cannot handle anything more than a few tweets.

Whenever they run out of excuses, they use the soldier analogy to attack whoever isn’t on the same page: “Our soldiers make sacrifices for us. Can’t you watch dark movies?” The entire argument ends whenever they use the solider analogy. So, enduring dark or austere cinema is similar to serving in the army.

Anurag Kashyap is a like the government school teachers of India — sour, dour, austere and grumpy. They inculcate them with their dour values: thou shall not laugh, thou shall not be happy, thou shall study for eighteen hours a day, though shall not wear a perfume, thou shall not party etc. They deflate others so they can feel better about their own frustrations. These scrooges make happiness look like a sin.

I have nothing against austere cinema or tragic endings. I admire the Shakespearean tragedies of Vishal Bharadwaj. I likes movies of Dibakar Banarjee, Govind Nihlani and older movies of Anurag Kashyap. But why should cinema only be restricted to certain sensibilities? There is nothing wrong with sad endings. But the trouble brews when such people are considered smarter than others, simply on their preference of depression over happiness. The question is, what do viewers of dark cinema or serious cinema contribute to society by watching such movies? Watching movies, whether comedies or tragedies, doesn’t make any difference. It is as constructive an activity as watching a game of cricket. No one becomes a great thinker or a great patriot by watching Gangs of Wasseypur or by bullying those don’t like it.

Alfred Hitchcock made entertaining films. His weren’t feel-good films: they were dark but very thrilling, suspenseful and entertaining at the same time. His cinema was a work of art with great usage of expressionism, symbolisms and so forth. Each scene in his each film had more art than the entire oeuvres of these ascetic bores. In India, however, art cinema is considered a movie with realism and austerity. The parameters are blinkered like the outlook of the ascetic manipulators. Where are enterprising filmmakers like Hitchcock, Fellini, Bunuel etc.?

Cinema is creating more divisions in society than caste or colour. What does watching dark movies do? Does it book you a spot in heaven? Will Salman Khan’s fans go to hell? Does it guarantee lifelong riches? Does it get one a seat in the best universities in the world? Does the cure of cancer lie in those movies? Does it resolve the Kashmir issue?

Radicalised movie buffs keep lying to their disciples. Watching serious cinema doesn’t make one a social activist. Those who want to make a difference, actually go out and do something meaningful like my cousin H’Ji.

O’ movie buff, cut your ego, not movies.
Learn to think for yourself, instead of blindly following reviewers.
Stop policing people’s taste in cinema.
Don’t make cinema your religion.
Let your daughters fall in love. 

François Truffaut said, “Film lovers are sick people.” Who would have thought the hyperbole would become a reality one day? Earlier people reviewed movies, now movies review people.