Ideally a liberal is someone who is open to the idea of another person having an opinion contrary to his own. Not in the world of Khan Market ‘liberal’ gang, though. Unless you accept that intolerance is rising in Modi’s India, you are not a true blue liberal.
You need not even say anything pro-Modi at times. Sometimes, just saying how things haven’t changed in 70 years is enough for you to trigger the ‘liberals’ who will wake up from their wine-induced slumber to bully you.
Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur recently took to Twitter to say how the ‘intellectuals’ still make him feel like a refugee. Kapur, a refugee of the partition, had not even named anyone who makes him feel so. However, lyricist turned Twitter troll Javed Akhtar took it as a personal offence. On behalf of all intellectuals of the nation, Akhtar asked Kapur to see a psychiatrist. Guess those who cry hoarse on rising intolerance aren’t much tolerant of opposing views after all.
However, that tweet set things in motion for him.
Yesterday, he reminisced about his 1983 classic movie Masoom.
So many people that ‘Knew’ wanted me to change the script of this film. People that were famous, experienced and ‘knowledgeable’. Told me it had no drama, no villain. I was naive unknown unskilled untrained. But rebellious. Thank God for that ! pic.twitter.com/Gb6Co3eOo1
— Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) August 1, 2019
All he had to do was say how despite the feedback which suggested him to change the script, he stuck to it.
The ‘liberals’ got triggered and came down upon him to remind him how his movie was not even an original idea.
Masoom was a remake of another movie, Man Woman and Child. So much for your ‘script’! https://t.co/bJHzvn1519
— Seema Goswami (@seemagoswami) August 1, 2019
‘Masoom’ was a scene by scene rip off of Erich Segal’s ‘Man, Woman & Child’. Not “adaptation”, not “inspired”, but a total copy. The stellar ‘arty’ cast (Shabana, Naseer, kids) and R D Burman’s music elevated the film. And today you’re bashing those “intellectuals”. Shame on you! https://t.co/9T70mjbxlc
— Chirpy Says (@IndianPrism) August 1, 2019
The facts first. Shekhar Kapur has already mentioned on record that his film Masoom was inspired from Man, Woman and Child.
Now that we have facts out of our way, let us get into ‘inspirations’. Kapur is accused of being ‘inspired’ from Man, Woman and Child without giving ‘credit’. You know which other cult classic film is also ‘inspired’ from various classic Hollywood movies? Sholay. Who wrote the script? Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan. How did Javed Akhtar react when a Twitter user pointed it out to him that Sholay was ‘inspired’ scene by scene from Hollywood movies? He asked lost his cool and had an epic meltdown on Twitter.
The ‘liberals’ never pointed it out to him that Sholay was ‘inspired’ even though there are thousands of online forums and videos. Here are a few:
Some more.
But because Javed Akhtar has appointed himself as the spokesperson for the ‘intellectuals’ and also believes that intolerance is rising in Modi’s India, he is forgiven.
Kapur is the latest one to be on the hit list of ‘liberals’. Recently, film actor Kangana Ranaut has been on the receiving end of all the flak because she is does not think ‘intolerance’ is rising in India. Rather, she called out the ‘achievers’ for their selective outrage on hate crimes in India.
It is Kangana Ranaut pitted against Aparna Sen. If you know Aparna’s oeuvre as actress, film-maker, editor and her background (daughter of Chidananda Dasgupta and protege of Satyajit Ray) and read a bit about Miss Ranaut’s rants…
— Vivek Sengupta (@vsengupta) July 26, 2019
How dare a self-made woman in the film industry compete with Aparna Sen who had a famous man as father and another famous man as mentor? You see, the elite club of Bollywood mixed with media who identify themselves as ‘intellectuals’ and ‘achievers’ (like, seriously, who does that?) will come hounding after you, baying for your blood if you do not echo their views.
You are, in all probability one pro-Modi comment away from being ridiculed, bullied and even made an outcast just because you do not conform to their views.
And these are our ‘liberals’.
