Pragya Thakur, Kerala Story and Cupid’s arrow – a very filmy political tale

A scene from the recently-released movie ‘The Kerala Story’.

There is only so much that one of the most dreaded Members of Parliament and one of the most successful, albeit universally panned, Hindi films in recent times can do to halt someone seeking love in their tracks. Is that not what tacky Hindi films from across ages told us? The boyfriend in question is, according to most news reports, also a textbook case of an unsatisfactory partner – a local goon with a history-sheet. But what role can the criminal history of the beau play in the decision-making process when he has already been condemned for the biological accident of his birth in a Muslim family? If the couple lived in a world where the man was not already considered a terrorist, the woman might (or not) have weighed in carefully on the pros and cons, given his reputation. If one creates a situation of perpetual hyperbole, aided amply by television and digital media, one cannot expect the young to appreciate nuances. The woman could have fallen for a gentle, soft-spoken Muslim man and our friendly neighbourhood MP would have still seen an ISIS recruitment plot in the courtship. And aren’t young women supposed to fall for the disreputable, perhaps hoping to reform them in the process? (Also something tacky films about petty thugs and pretty women have repeatedly told us).

MP Thakur, we are told by some newspaper reports, set aside her work for one whole day to “counsel” the young lady before taking her and some other hapless women, who were likely not connected to the story (because better safe than sorry, of course), to watch Sudipto Sen’s film based on the testimony of three women but unfathomably representing the lived realities of 32,000 women. It is, of course, refreshing to learn that BJP MPs do have work aside of interfering in consensual relationships among adults and promoting Kerala Story or Kashmir Files free-of-charge, but it is still hard to imagine that anything else could be as important to Thakur as preventing the union of one of her Hindu constituents with a Muslim man out of her free will. And, in her moment of failure, she must have all our collective sympathies. What good can her own chequered past, a history-sheet that can easily dwarf that of our lovable thug, do to her in subsequent election campaigns when it is not intimidating enough to convince a teenager against marrying for love? If the force of her personality and her unfortunate reputation as a Gandhi-hating disturber of peace are not persuasive enough to “counsel” one woman, how can she ever hope to convert the entire nation in the image of Savarkar and Godse’s dreams and aspirations?

Adah Sharma shared behind-the-scene photos from the sets of The Kerala Story. (Photo: Adah/Instagram)

This leaves us with The Kerala Story itself. Who is it aimed at and whom will it convince of the threat of ISIS? When The Kashmir Files was first released, videos of incensed uncles arguing that the film must be shown to young Hindu women had floated around social media. The Kerala Story, a tale of three women whose ordeals represent an existential crisis to the nation as a whole, is more direct regarding its aim. The naivety of the women it portrays is designed as a weapon in the hands of middle-aged men and women to reassert control over those whose young bodies represent the corporeality of the nation but their feeble minds hold the risk of civilisational collapse. The feeble minds that some parents hope will somehow learn to discern the threat posed by terrorism in distant lands through instruction at the feet of terrifying women closer at home. It indeed is still a mystery why some women continue to choose unsatisfactory young men over parents who just want the best for their daughters, including leaving them in the company of ascetics with such distinguished careers.

The writer is an anthropologist and the author of ‘Courting Desire: Litigating for Love in North India’