Indian in Western Hearts

Perceptions of Asians and the Asian culture for a western audience is what makes a lot of things extremely interesting. Here are some noteworthy misconceptions.

A couple of days ago, I happened to see a Hollywood film, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. There was nothing extraordinary about the film, except perhaps, its budget. But what caught my attention was the fact that there was, among a couple of Londoners, and ex-servants of His Majesty’s Empire (on which the sun did not set in those days, the film is set in the nineteenth century, pre Euro world), a certain Indian character.

Here I must mention that the rest of the characters were well known literary characters, the most noteworthy being Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (not such a demon at heart though). The Asian character, Indian to be precise, is a well-known Bombay film industry actor and theatre artist, Naseeruddin Shah. He is a North Indian and has a number of excellently played roles to his credit, for which he has bagged a number of awards, mostly from the Indian audience. However, given the fact that the Indian film industry is probably the world’s second largest (unorganized) film production industry, he deserves some credit for his talent. Nasseeruddin Shah has assayed some memorable roles on screen and in theatre, sometimes in performances abroad also, like his performance as Othello in London.

The character played by this actor was that of a pirate (though he doesn’t like such strong words), Captain Nemo, who is a super warrior and has a brain to match his brawn. He provides the party of adventurers with a magnificent sword shaped ship which can also serve as a submarine. The hilt of this sword structure is shaped like the lingam (the phallus symbol of the God) of Lord Shiva, and on the hull ride the Trinity, the three presiding Gods of Hindu pantheon. Elsewhere in the film, the character is shown worshipping The Goddess Kali (Goddess of Death, one character whispers).
What struck me was, how abominably little the western audience knows of Hindus and Hinduism.

For one, all Asians are either brown (in which case they wear turbans and speak in slow, labored English)., or they are Mongolian faces that could be Chinese, Japanese or whatever one wants them to be. The Indian characters, according to Western films and literature, almost always are straight out of mystical, mysterious past, almost always have something to do with some royal family, kings, tiger hunts, snake charmers and rope tricking fakirs. They also speak of mendicants who have strange powers, some Gods that are at best, savage, and the music is almost always transcendental. One wonders, where does one get to see the India of a westerners dreams, it is certainly not on the Indian subcontinent.

The India that lives today, and about which it would be a great idea for the western countries to wake up to, has the worlds second highest population. So languid, rolling forests infested with huntable tigers and kings and their other-worldly wealth, is a little out of place. Besides, not all Indians are Hindus, so every character cannot be shown worshipping Kali (Goddess of Death, for God’s sake..). Incidentally, Kali is Shakti, woman power,, and her violent facial expression is reserved only for the demon she killed, she is not worshipped as the Goddess of Death, the place is reserved for a large, dark man, called Yama, who arrives to take away one’s soul on a large buffalo. Well, having said that, western audience need to know that India is not a Hindu nation, there are percentages of Sikhs (Captain Nemo was probably one), there are Muslims and there are Christians in large numbers. It is probably the only country in the world which celebrates festivals of all communities as national holidays. People of all religions are a part of this country’s history, no one can ever feel they do not belong here. Politicians notwithstanding, not all Indians feel the need to assert the Hindu identity. In fact, it has one of the most liberal and intellectual press media in the world, where one can voice their religious leanings, criticize the government and still live to tell the tale. So the Kali worshipping, tiger claw wearing pirate may be a misnomer, even in the nineteenth century, especially if the character was a Sikh, since he was dressed up like one.

Coming to more recent movies, Chicago had some instances of Rudra, Lord Shiva and some Indian Gods. The question is, is it just ignorance or something else...that leads the film media in the western world to believe that India is only about dancing male Gods, deadly female gods, snake charmers, rope tricksters, fakirs who sleep on beds of nails and rajahs who go around in ruby encrusted turbans, trying to live LIKE a white man. Isn’t this the worst form of ignorance, specially now since so many Indians are a regular part of the American society? If it is merely ignorance, we forgive you…if it is not, something needs to be done about the level of education about the rest of they world in some western countries. Britain stepped out of the Raj attitudes some decades ago, now it is the turn of the US to do so, to stop being condescending, to wake up and realize, the age of White Man’s glamour is past, just like Pamela Anderson is no longer the brand ambassador for the first world.!!!!