The Kashmir Files, which generated more money at the box office on the first weekday following the weekend, a rare in most industries globally, would have been hailed by the ailing Hindi film industry under ‘normal’ conditions. However, given that it presents a viewpoint that hasn’t been common in popular Hindi films in terms of plot, Bollywood’s quiet and negative attitude toward it is unsurprising.
On and off the screen, filmmakers have frequently exhibited their political views and affiliations. The late Feroz Khan dedicated his film Qurbani to the living memory of the ‘prince’ Sanjay Gandhi and bowed before the’mother’ of the nation, Indira Gandhi, a few months after Mrs Indira Gandhi’s return as prime minister in 1980. The dedication with Feroz Khan’s voice-over shows that the filmmaker had never met Sanjay Gandhi, which is intriguing. What’s more intriguing is that Khan, and many others in the film business, never decided to openly discuss the horrors of the Emergency, which afflicted many of their peers.
Dev Anand, Kishore Kumar, and Shatrughan Sinha were banned for refusing to follow government orders. During the Emergency, some films, such as Narendra Bedi’s Maha Chor (1976), starring Rajesh Khanna, featured a scene in which the former praises the incumbent government and tells a young child that the government is working for a better tomorrow in which no one will be poor or hungry, and no black-marketeer will be spared. Sanjay Gandhi, the prime minister’s son, was accused of destroying the negative of Kissa Kursi Ka (1977), a film starring Shabana Azmi and regarded as India’s first political parody. It was said to be unflattering to the Congress administration. The Shah Commission found him guilty of destroying the prints and sentenced him to a month in jail.
Since India’s independence, the Congress has remained in power longer than any other party. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s larger-than-life aura, which he possessed for 17 years as India’s prime minister, became an indelible element of popular cinema’s visuals and, dare one say, storyline. To understand how Pandit Nehru’s views and thoughts found an outlet through Dilip Kumar’s lines in films like Paigham, one only needs to listen to some of his Red Fort addresses held on 15 August every year (1959).
The impact of the emergency on the Hindi film industry, particularly popular films, was significant. It was a time when no one dared to criticize the administration, and no one dared to go against the grain. The Censors requested that Ramesh Sippy reshoot the finale of Sholay, in which Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar), a former police officer, shoots a notorious brigand, Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Sippy’s father, GP Sippy, a well-known film producer and industry figure, counselled him not to defy the autocratic regime.
