Parinda Moment at Critics' Choice Awards: Bollywood's Political Undertones and Misinformation

When Vidhu Vinod Chopra won the Best Film trophy at the Critics' Choice Awards, which were hosted in Mumbai on the 12th, it was envisioned as a Parinda moment for his much-maligned 12th Fail. The awarding of Vidhu by Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff would reenact a scene from 1989, when the three worked together on one of the first underworld dramas in Hindi movie history. Anil Kapoor stated he would do it after a few days of saying, "I'll let you know," but Jackie had a shoot scheduled. But Jackie did his signature gesture to make sure he was pulling for VVC too: he sent me a beautiful flowering plant and asked me to bring it up to the stage for Vidhu. To Vidhu's dismay, the plant—which seemed to have a tale of its own—went missing from the most noticeable table in the hall, reappeared close to the stage, vanished once more, and then—surprise!—was offered as an unexpected conclusion. Thus, recollections of Parinda were rekindled in a distinct manner.

On a more serious note, the entertainment business is buzzing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. When I had spent an evening backstage with the Rocket Boys cast and crew months prior, I was aware that they waved away speakers who they perceived to be right-wing, such as Anand Ranganathan, with contempt, and that director Abhay Pannu and creative producer Nikkhil Advani had deliberately created the fictional character of a victimized Muslim scientist only as a statement against "the prevailing atmosphere."
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Jim Sarbh, who played Dr. Homi Bhabha with considerable flair, has been reading aloud from his phone the arguments he has assembled against the current regime and voicing his opposition to the CAA.

During the awards ceremony, the writer-director of Joram, a highly regarded film starring Manoj Bajpayee, cautioned at the beginning of his acceptance speech that he would not be editing his words. He delivered his message with immense emotion. Devashish Makhija began by making a remark on the suffering of Adivasis who had been displaced. He then went on to emphasize this statement by adding, "in the name of development," mocking the politics of development, and concluding by saying, "The elections are approaching, vote wisely." He could not have conveyed his point more clearly.

In addition to using every medium at their disposal to express their voice, movies such as Article 370 are also voicing their political opinions. That is the way an election year will be.

While we're talking about messaging, consider this example of misinformation spreading. Karan Johar had asked me a joking question about why I was wearing a mask on the chartered flight to Ahmedabad for the mid-air release of the Yodha teaser. I answered, "Because the person next to me is coughing." He remarked, "Oh, my throat has been acting up since morning as well." Then, at the debut of the big-screen trailer, his voice completely broke. Going to Jamnagar from here? a member of the crowd questioned. He said, a little too loudly, that he was going back to Mumbai and would only be visiting Jamnagar the following day for the glamorous Ambani pre-wedding festivities.

Many people shared details about the filmmaker's presence in Jamnagar based just on that one response; social media also included images. Some had him in an old video dancing with Ranbir Kapoor, while others included him wearing the same clothing he had on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad trip the day before—something that a fashion-conscious Karan would never do, not even on his deathbed. Some asserted that "we should know" as they had heard what he had stated in Ahmedabad and had not been informed that he had tested positive for Covid upon his return to Mumbai. For the next six days, Karan was not allowed to visit Jamnagar or go out.

"Don't you guys think it's lucky that I spared Sidharth Malhotra and the rest of you from Covid?" Then Karan gave a wisecrack. Indeed. His Jamnagar jamboree, however, was merely another day of lies in the interim.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.