Of all the political, corporate, or public figureheads whom the diversified Indian diaspora could have chosen to incarnate its nostalgia for the “homeland” (swades) and yearning for a “lost” unity on this Independence Day, it seems most significant that this coveted role has fallen to Bollywood stardom.
In New York, it was Grand Marshal Saif Ali Khan who graced the lead float and the parade hosted by the Federation of Indian Associations of the tristate area. It was barely a month ago that his mother, Bollywood legend Sharmila Tagore, was invited as cultural ambassador to kick off Chicago’s Eye on India festival and be plied with questions about Saif and his actress sister Soha.
Likewise, handsome Aftab Shivdasani, who shot to fame at the age of 5 as child artist in the hit movie “Mr. India,” seemed a natural choice for grand marshal at the Chicago version of the FIA parade along Mahatma Gandhi Marg (the stretch of Devon Avenue west of Western Avenue) because of his youthful appeal to the future generation.
Already in 2010, he had “marshaled” the Independence Day parade in San Francisco. It was rumored that Aamir Khan, already in Chicago shooting daredevil sequences downtown for his “Dhoom 2” movie, might deign to show up for the ceremony, but he perhaps thought the better (and in good taste) of raining on someone else’s parade.
The even younger Prachi Desai, beautifully and perhaps unwittingly summed up the preponderant role of Bollywood in shaping the global perception and self-image of India, when she was called upon the dais after many other local dignitaries had already addressed the gala banquet of FIA Chicago, a breakaway group, on Aug. 18. Visibly overwhelmed by her first visit to Chicago, she endorsed all the patriotic sentiments expressed before her and simply declared how strongly she was reminded of Ashutosh Gowarikar’s movie “Swades” and the moving role of its NRI hero played by Shah Rukh Khan. The next afternoon, she led the group’s Independence Day parade in Hoffman Estates.
In ancient times, the cultural diversity and unity of India was expressed above all by the classical theater, reflected in its folk prolongations and embracing a rich variety of dialects, that appealed to the entire cross-section of an otherwise stratified society.
The plot was interspersed with music and dance, features that have been inherited by Bollywood, thus distinguishing it from Hollywood and other genres of world cinema.
What greater testimony to the central role of cinema in shaping the desi imagination, self-image and collective aspirations than the fact that “conservative” cultural programs in the Midwest purportedly celebrating Gujarati, Telugu, or other “traditions” invariably do so through the lens of Bollywood and its regional counterparts?
The week before the official celebrations attended by local politicians, Indian and Pakistani kids were sharing the same platform at the Indo-American Center, singing and enjoying old patriotic hits dear to their parents. The same yearning was expressed in the FIA gala of Aug. 17 through the youthful white dove dancing out “Give Peace a Chance” to melt the hardened hearts of two warring South Asian kings.
Though Independence Day has long been a celebration of the unity-in-diversity that is Greater India, this idealized vision has been sandwiched between eruptions of ethnic violence that have instead exposed fault lines, sowed divisiveness, with everything falling apart. The sorrow, gloom and apprehension from the Oak Creek, Wis., massacre still loomed over the Indian-American festivities of this Independence Day anniversary, only to be further aggravated by the mass communal rioting sparked from India’s northeast to lay bare, once again for all to see, multiple fractures crisscrossing the body politic. That these yearnings for and celebrations of unity had to be held twice, separately, even at the same location (The Meadows Club) perhaps serves as an ironic auto-commentary.
Despite the box-office constraints and lure of proven formulas, many remain conscious of the social responsibility that comes with the power of creative media. Mumbai director Mirza Parvez, whose “Jai Veer Hanuman” TV serial had provoked controversy back home, is now living in Chicago and filming “Mumbai Se Chicago” with Pakistani producer Shehzad Rehmani, an undertaking that would have been more difficult in their countries of origin. Though still falling within the typical commercial genre, the chosen theme is of the bond of friendship between a Hindu and a Muslim student residing as paying guests with a local Indo-Pakistani couple. Perhaps we may look forward to brighter stars, like Aamir Khan and Aftab Shivdasani, caught up currently in “Dhoom 2” and “Mast 2,” respectively, to likewise translate the nostalgic patriotism so heartily declared and appreciated during such Independence Day parades into stirring movies that help make the vision of “swades” a reality.
Though its box-office performance was rather disappointing – especially in the “homeland” as opposed to the diaspora – Gowarikar’s “Swades,” that King Khan privately confessed was his best movie, has like a “sleeper” subsequently wormed its way through YouTube into the hearts of millions, and not just desis, nostalgic for the happy place called “home.” It’s now up to their Bollywood peers and rivals, and above all their now-globalized audiences, to ensure that the sentiments of unity-in-diversity expressed so joyously during these Independence Day parades and headlined as “Freedom on Devon Avenue” in Desi Talk, are reflected even more faithfully in their cinematic art.
