When movie’s over, stand up with pride

On Friday the state government will issue a directive ordering Mumbai’s 150-odd cinemas to play the national anthem either before or after movie performances. The anthem, performed by the Indian Navy band, will be played over a 30-second movie montage of rural folk, fluttering tri-colours and stirring landscapes.

‘‘Terrorism is rampant these days. The need of the hour is nationalism to combat terrorism,’’ says Narendra Verma, President (Mumbai) of the Nationalist Youth Congress party, who came up with the idea.

On Sunday the NCP held a seminar where the likes of Rafiq Zakaria, M N Singh, Kiran Shantaram shared a cosmopolitan dias with Verma to speak on ‘Nationalism vs Terrorism’.

The speakers gave their approval of the decision to play the anthem. The same day, some 10 kms away in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi gave BJP supporters his famed ‘Hindutva’ speech and warned of the need to combat terrorism. Nationalism, it seems, has suddenly become the only political game in town.

But are movie-goers really going to stand to attention for a full 30 seconds while the anthem is played? Lessons from the 1970s, the last time such a law existed, suggest not. ‘‘There were always people who walked away in disregard. Almost every show ended with the doormen who guarded the exits having an altercation with those who simply wouldn’t wait. So they called it off,’’ recalled Hashmukh Mota, manager of the New Excelsior cinema in Mumbai.

Mumbai High Court Advocate Vibhav Krishna — also the lawyer for Bharat Shah facing trial in an alleged Bollywood-underworld nexus case — said the law is just asking for trouble: ‘‘The decision will expose the national anthem to blant disrespect, disregard and contempt by the public.’’

Ordinary movie-goers seemed equally sceptical. ‘‘Don’t you think 50 percent of the people will have their eyes fixed on the exit doors and may even scamper off when the ‘jaya hai, jaya hai…’ bit happens? asked marketing executive Shalimar Verma.