FILM REVIEW: BAAHUBALI - II

Mohammad Arsalan
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The nation was indeed curious to seek the galvanizing question or a surprise may by “Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali?” The answer was simple, the launch of its second part Baahubali-2. Despite the fact that part two was the initial story and the stuff behind the curtain, it was successful in maintaining the suspense.

S S Rajamouli has given his best to the reverse chronological story but somewhere there is requirement of a better articulation. The typical Indian family melodrama undertakes the hindsight and conspiracy game takes the turn.

Baahubali (Prabhas) falls in love with Devasena (Anushka Shetty) and the two is set to get married. Meanwhile, Bhallala (Rana Dagubatti) plays his conspiracy card and asks the regal queen Shivagami (Ramya) for his marriage to Devasena. Queen Shivagami gives her consent and a marriage proposal is sent to Devasena to which there is a rejection.

After Baahubali returns to the kingdom with his phianse and stands by the side of his to-be-bride and openly declares their love nexus, annoys the mother and she gives him two options, either to be the king or marry Devasena. Bhaubalu chooses the later. From here the story takes turn from contretemps to confrontation, and meanwhile hostile arguments clears apart mother-son relationship.

Later, to reinforce the hegemony on kingdom and to break down Baahubali’s partisanship among people, a conspiracy to defame Baahubali is laid down by Bhallala, accusing Baahubali of orchestrating his killing. The case is taken to the mother Shivagami where she is outraged by the heinous act. She commands Kattappa (Sathyaraj), a stalwart of the kingdom to go and kill Baahubali, being stated that it’s a state order and is his sacred duty to follow. Likewise, the suspense gets unveiled and Baahubali is set off for the heavenly abode.

Further, the epilogue of the movie continues, where son of Baahubali comes after 25 years of his father’s death and Coup d'état the incumbent cruel king Bhallala by killing him and rescuing his mother; all after triumphant of a battle.

Movie is tedious that is quite unusual in this hectic era, fiction has been used in a serious genre to a great extent. The acting deserves a flattering response. As far as culture is concerned, South-Indian movies robustly uphold their legacy. The film doesn’t have vulgar scenes which has become a common manifestation in modern film making.  Overall, the film has achieved its bid and is all set to break the block office records.

                                                 

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ARTIFACTS OF JHARKHAND

Mohammad Arsalan
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Jharkhand is a state separated from Bihar way back in 2000. It was because of the fact that major part was covered with forest and mineral rich natural resources, Tribal people comprised of a huge population and had distinct culture which led to the demand of a new state. In Jharkhand tribes like Santhal, Birhor, Munda, Oraon, Gond etc. live in jungles and have extremely distinct social life. From language, rituals, paintings, clothing, food, festival, social gathering, worship and so on it has a beautiful setup that is far beyond the new modern and technical world. Here are some of the artefacts of Jharkhand that can paint a picture of the state.

PAITKAR PAINTINGS:

Pic 1- A Paitkar painting 

‘Paitkar Paintings’ also known as ‘Scroll Paintings’ are the old form of paintings which has been practiced by Shahbar tribe for thousands of years. These paintings are made up of natural colour from plants, ashes, fodder etc. the medium through which the Paitkar artists use to paint their scrolls is water-based colours. These paintings are made up on walls and houses that narrate some or other kind of stories. These stories generally depict life after death. Pata painting is one of the earliest folk paintings of India. The Paitkar artists make the palm leaves as the base of the art and the brushes are made from the hair of squirrel and goat. Human characters occupy most part of the painted space. These characters are present in profile and sometimes in semi profile. The eyes are elongated which reflects the characteristic of Indian painting style. The painted face came much later only in the mid-20th century.

KOHVAR & SOHRAI PAINTINGS:

Pic 2- A lady painting Kohvar.

These are sacred, secular and relevant to a woman's world. This is the art practiced exclusively by married women, during weddings and at harvest time, and the skill and the information is handed down to younger females of the clan. Comb-cut or finger-painted, Kohvar art celebrates marriage, and the wall-painted Sohrai, bumper crops. Elaborate design motifs, animal and plant forms, fertility motifs are abundant and often echo ancient cave art found in the surrounds. The colours used are all natural - neutral earth shades, red oxide from stone, red ochre, kaolin white, manganese black earth etc. Blue and green are aberrant colours and do not feature prominently.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS:

Pic 3- Tribal Bansuri made of Bamboo

Kadri, Arbansi, Sarangi, Tuila, and Bansuri are some musical instruments of this State. The Jharkhand Sarangi looks curved, has three main chords which weigh more than other chords in the instrument. It is played along with Singa, Bansuri and Arbansi to give it that enthralling quality. Paika dance is accompanied with music of Shahnai, Bheir, Narsingha and the Dhak and Nagara drums.Instruments like Nagara, Jhanj, Mohuri, Turi, Dhol, Dhumsa, Bheri, Bansuri and conch shells are used in Chhaw dance. Karma is accompanied by folk music along with instruments such as Jhumki, Thumki, Challa and Payri. Such dances and forms of music play are performed generally at the wedding ceremonies, festivals and harvest seasons.

BOWS AND ARROWS AS WEAPONS:

Pic 4- Bows and Arrows of Tribal.

One of the most important and distinctive symbol that characterizes this community is the bow and arrow. The Santals use it extensively. Apart from using it for hunting, they use it during various rituals, festivals and celebrations. During the ceremonial cleansing after birth, the arrow is used by the midwife. In ancient times the umbilical cord of a new born baby was cut with the sharp edge of an arrow and the same arrow was placed vertically on the head side of the baby. During marriage ceremonies the arrow is used too. Again bow and arrows are offered to the dead (male members of the community) during burials. The bow and arrow is highly respected in the society. If anyone by chance touches it by his feet, he is immediately asked to bow to it. Therefore, it is impossible for the Tribals to abandon these bow and arrows as they are culturally, emotionally and mentally attached to them (bows and arrows).

TRIBAL ARTWORK:

Chhou mask - Chhou is a type of dance done with colourful masks. The masks are made of paper Mache in Singhbhum and Purulia district of Jharkhand and west Bengal respectively. Paper Mache of Saraikela and Charinda are famous for Chhou dance. Sometimes it appears similar to the masks used in Kerla in Kathakali.

Tribal woodwork - Jharkhand is full of good quality Saal forest and hence wooden artwork in the "should" of Tribals. The wood is used for cooking, housing, farming, fishing etc. The tribal artists of some villages have explored their creativity in art, like beautifully decorative door panels, toys, boxes, and other household articles.

Tribal Bamboo Artwork - The Bamboo found in this area are different from Bamboo of Southeast Asia. There is tourist place, Netarhat, which means a Bazaar of Bamboo. These bamboos are thin, and strong and flexible. The tribal people use bamboo for making baskets, hunting & fishing equipment. Especially the bamboo made fishing cage is very attractive.

Pic 5- Godna

Godna - Tribals use ornaments a lots but the spiritual concept of ornament is very different. They believe that all ornaments are human made and are mortal. Therefore, they invented tattoos as permanent ornament. Majority of tribal woman have tattoos called Godna, on their bodies. However, tribal men also use Godna. They believe that Godna are the only ornament which goes with them after death also.

Tribal weapons - Bow and arrow is the symbolic weapon of the Tribals of this area. Apart from this they use iron made Axes and Ghana (Big hammer).

The Unchecked Reality Of Beef-Ban.

Mohammad Arsalan

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The recent Beef-Ban in Uttar Pradesh is one of the biggest frauds that would have been done. Many see it as Muslim bashing and hurting their religious sentiments but in actuality our Hindu brothers are being fooled and their religious sentiments are being fired out for fulfilling the vested interests of the capitalist-owned-government. Now here’s the prove:

India is the largest exporter of beef in the world. India exports more than 2.4 million tons of beef every year around the world and contributes to 23.5% of the total global exports. Before 2014, India stood no. 2^nd in beef export, whereas we surpassed Brazil after BJP coming into power and now we top the list.

India‘s four largest beef export companies are owned by our Hindu brothers, which are as follows:

1 )Al-Kabeer Exports Pvt. Ltd.
Owner name: Mr. Shatish & Mr. Atul Sabharwal
Add: 92, Jolly makers, Chembur Mumbai 400021

2) Arabian Exports Pvt.Ltd.
Owner’s name: Mr.Sunil Kapoor
Add: Russian Mansions, Overseas, Mumbai 400001

3) M.K.R Frozen Food Exports Pvt. Ltd.
Owner’s name Mr. Madan Abott.
Add : MG road, Janpath, New Delhi 110001

4) P.M.L Industries Pvt. Ltd.
Owner’s name: Mr. A.S Bindra
Add : S.C.O 62-63 Sector -34-A, Chandigarh 160022

Now with this we must understand how the government is inciting religious sentiments for mere political gains. The current government is too smart and playing two sides in the game. By banning beef they prima facie appear in working out with their Hindutva agenda, polarization and partisan of the ruling dispensation. The small retailers are being crushed and big corporate exporters are increasing. In actuality more that 3.25 lakh Muslim people in UP has suffered from the negation.

The second most important thing is that the government wants people to engage in foul discourses and be aloof from the ground realities that matters in day-to-day livelihood. For example as per financial express report as many as 287 farmers, including agriculture labourers have committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh during the past three months. Almost none of the promises under the “Vikaas” slogan has been fulfilled yet. Hence, the government is finding refuge in this gutter-game and masses are being used for propaganda. I hope the people understand this and take a better stand in future elections.

I very much care about the sentiments of my Hindu brothers, for that matter I will not let the government fool them. My appeal to the government is that there shouldn’t be a selective rule of law. Let’s make equal laws for all. Ban the beef export. Nor in India we will eat beef, nor we will let the blacks and whites eat beef around the world exported from our country.

#NoSelectiveRuleOfLaw #BanBeefExport

(Positive criticism and views accepted)

A VISIT TO MUKUNDPUR VILLAGE

Mohammad Arsalan
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7^th February’17- After a-two-day international conference on “Media and Sustainable Development: Key Issues and Challenges” organised by the department of Mass Communication, Aligarh Muslim University on 5^th and 6^th February, 2017, a delegation of faculties, students and 25 guests from different countries visited Mukundpur village of Aligarh district where organic farming is done.

The village has an estimated population of 3000 and a thousand people owning lands. Villagers make vermin compost naturally by collecting and nurturing fertilizers from specialised earthworms and husks. Natural gas plants are also installed at many spots used for cooking purpose-cow and buffalo dung is mostly used in producing the same.

“There is a larger space for organic farming but it is not apt in fulfilling the requirement of the poor to feed. Hence, chemical farming is also done for more production. In chemical farming external inputs like urea, DAC etc. are used”, says Pratiyush Varshney, an ISI graduate who works in the village and promulgates the idea of scientific farming. Further he adds that farmers are not well acquainted with scientific farming and are averse to it. They rather prefer traditional techniques, which apparently acts as debacle to the farming output. On asking about the government’s incentives and subsidies on seeds, fertilisers etc. provided to the farmers, Mr. Pratiyush blames corruption and says, “The government plans and initiatives are good, but in reality complicit, the big land owning farmers enjoy all the priorities, leaving others toiling”. Majority of the farmers are landless and suffer the negation.

A major population of Mukundpur is illiterate and those who are educated, most of them have migrated to towns and big cities for earning their bread and butter. The literate families generally have kitchen gardens where they grow crops and vegetables for feeding the family and not for selling it out in the market. The rest of the population is involved in commercial farming.

Despite small huts and seemingly poor condition prevalent in the village, the house of the up-pradhan Sunil Singh looked wealthier than many. Mr. Sunil owned more than 40 buffaloes, cars and motor-bikes. He had a-two-story building along with a lawn in front of his house, where a prerogative salutation was provided to the delegates and the framing technicalities were demonstrated. Ostensibly, Mr. Sunil talked about the village farmers and claimed to have helped most of them in providing government subsidies but prima facie his efforts seemed apathetic.

Organic farming was fostered by the delegation. The purpose of the visit was to practically observe and gather ideas for sustainable development. As farmers by profession delegates from Yemen exchanged their ideas of farming with the locals. A generous reception was given to the team by the villagers and Chaach and Gud were served as beverages. The village was surrounded by wheat fields; the ambient was peaceful and tranquil.

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Why Muslim And Dalit Politics Fail In India? (Falling prey to ‘Vote-Bank’ politics)

Mohammad Arsalan
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Many Muslims intellectuals claim that Muslims don’t have a political stand, some say that Muslims only vote against the BJP, some are talking of Dalit-Muslim alliance in the upcoming UP polls. In my opinion all these things doesn’t fit to the prevailing political unawareness of Muslims in India. All the marginalized communities of India don’t have a political stand that mainly consists of Muslims, Dalits and Tribals (w. r. f.  Justice Sachhar committee report 2006). The reason is that they are educationally, socially and financially backward. They battle only for bread and butter and know nothing of what is going around, hence they easily fall prey in the political system as underdog. That is what commonly called ‘Vote-Bank’.

Every political party requires lobbying for which Brahmins (including Rajput, Bhumihar and Baniya- not all but majority) are the fittest as they have always been socially powerful and financially strong since 2500 BC. Initially they lobbied for Congress and now they have their own fascist Bartiya Janta Party. Amid all that, Brahmanical hegemony is uprising creating more social repression, inequality and injustice in the society; the same that happened after 2500 BC up till the ‘Gora Sahib’ arrived in India followed by ‘Bhura Sahib’ and now by ‘RSS’.

This social inequality was realized by Dr. Ambedkar and he included Article 16 (4) i. e. ‘equality of opportunity in matters of public employment’ in the constitution providing special reservation for the backward class for their social and educational empowerment. At that time also Ambedkar was opposed by many upper caste Hindus. Further deliberate plotting was done against him to defeat in the Loksabha elections of 1952 & 54, later he was nominated in the Upper House or Rajya Sabha. Whereas the Élite Muslims in British India didn’t accepted the due demand in constitution and later majority of them flee to Pakistan leaving back the backward Muslims as orphans.

Now what Muslims and Dalits need to realize is that to take political stand it’s very important to come out of poverty. One is in despair when is in poverty and has no option but to be used as masses for propaganda by the ruling-class. Here I would like to quote Sir Syed, he said ‘Ignorance is the mother of poverty’. Ignorance comes from lack of knowledge and education. This was realized by Sir Syed after the first war of Independence in 1857, where he saw Muslims being brutally butchered by the British. He got to understand that education is the only key which could take these poor marginalized community including Muslims and other backwards from deprivation and vicious circle of poverty. That was the only key they could attain their position in social and political spectrum. Later on he started Aligarh movement and MAO College was formed in 1877.

It’s true that politics decides the fate of individuals and communities especially in an inclusive and diverse country like India. But feudalism and Brahminisation has still influenced the politics of India. To my little knowledge I think that Muslim and Dalit intellectuals fail to understand that it’s poverty, despair and jeopardy that has made marginalized communities aloof from the main stream. Those Muslims who use slangs like ‘rehnumai’, ‘qyadat’, and whatnot are either highly ambitious and are used by different political parties for Muslim appeasement, the others who actually commit themselves for a social change fail to understand the social fabric, problems of poverty, and beat around the bush. At initial level it’s important to eradicate the class-inequality, more and more focus on education should be done for emancipation and demanding rights rather than making hubbub of SP, BSP, Congress, BJP and bla bla. Until social equality and social justice is achieved; democracy will be a mockery in India and marginalized communities will remain a ‘Vote-Bank’.