No takers for ban on Bollywood

The outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam’s (ULFA) call for a total ban on Hindi films in the state, as these were a part of ‘...

The outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam’s (ULFA) call for a total ban on Hindi films in the state, as these were a part of ‘‘Hindustani invasion’’, has been received with protests in the state.

The call, published as an editorial in the latest issue of its mouthpiece Freedom, comes close on the heels of a demonstration held by the All Assam Students’ Association (AASU) at a Guwahati theatre two weeks ago forcing the owner to replace the Bollywood film he was screening with an Assamese film. The AASU claimed the owner had not continued the Assamese film into the third week, despite its popularity, to show the Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt-starrer Hum Kisise Kam Nahin.

Several leading personalities of the Assamese film industry have described this trend as ‘‘unhealthy’’, saying it could affect the local industry as well. ‘‘Hindi or Assamese, films are films. There are so many good aspects to Hindi films. Moreover, we have so many Assamese people working in Bollywood. What if they are also thrown out?’’ asks Pabitra Kumar Deka, a veteran film critic and scriptwriter.

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Praising the AASU protest, the ULFA urged it in the editorial to work for ‘‘total eradication’’ of Hindi culture from Assam. Admitting that this was a ‘‘symbolic protest’’, it added that Hindi films indeed represented ‘‘Indian occupation’’ of Assam.

The outfit described cultural control as an ‘‘inexorable’’ part of any invasion and said ‘‘the hybrid Hindi cultural components have been used to entice people of the occupied area (through) cheap entertainment’’.

Deka points out that a number of Assamese artistes have made their dent in Bollywood, including Seema Biswas of Bandit Queen fame, Jaya Seal and the new find Dipannita Sharma.

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