How Bajrangi Bhaijaan Subverts & Reinforces the Indo-Pak Narrative

Reading ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ between the lines, it’s about India and the other face of Pakistan we do not acknowledge

Masala for kicks is fine, masala for the sake of it is ok but when masala comes with the cleverest of recipes the dish becomes a Bajrangi Bhaijaan, one of the cleverest, bravest yet safest films to have come out of Bollywood recently - a film that very smartly subverts the micro-narrative while keeping the macro narrative untouched.

In Bajrangi Bhaijaan, it’s easy to spot the India-Pakistan story and hence interpret Pawan as India and Munni / Shahida as Pakistan as the macro story. The micro story makes Pawan the representation of the average Hindu Indian standing for all the biases we have and Shahida as the other face of Pakistan, a face we don’t acknowledge.

So a yet-to-be-born Shahida is introduced in response to nationalistic fervour of cricket just like how the idea of Pakistan was introduced around the fervour of religion. Immediately taking a leap of six years, this is juxtaposed with her separation from her mother. It then becomes a metaphor for the Partition; of how Pakistan went its own way and India her own; of how people of the same family / nation were separated. The fact that Shahida lives in PoK and Maulviji’s merry jests about ‘having a bit’ of Kashmir becomes a prominent motif reminding us that once, Pakistanis were our people and 60 years hence, it still isn’t easy to draw boundaries and declare them as the ‘other’.

Once this context is set, modern-day India takes over. This India isn’t bad either, nor is it the ‘other’. It is warm-hearted but close-minded. It is simple but slightly rigid, upright but caught in its own orthodoxies as presented by Pawan, the clean-hearted, straight-forward, simpleton Hanuman devotee whose religious ideas are compartmentalised. He is the ‘saviour’ Shahida’s family is wishing for her.

In an extension of Hindu and nationalist mythology Pawan becomes the pawan-putra, bringing Sita back home safe. Pawan also becomes the benevolent, stronger male protecting the vulnerable female, just far more graceful than his Gaddar counterpart but bound by the same patriarchal tropes of saving female life and honour. The Pakistani in both films is tellingly the female. Quickly enough, a majority of a population is satisfied because even though the film is pointing out their flaws - their religious biases, it is not questioning their sense of superiority in connection with their neighbours or the second sex. In fact, it endorses it, seeming to be saying, since we are the bigger ones let us be larger too.

However, a wonderful subversive game is within the micro narrative. Rasika, Pawan’s romantic partner is a broad-minded, practical Hindu. She is a believer but not orthodox. She is more head than heart; she does not automatically become Munni’s mother as expected but becomes the advisor / strategist. This makes her role secondary but also empowers her by resting the virtue of reason in her, something few films do. That her character is a woman may also be a certain indication of, just like the female gender, how low on power the voice of sense is too.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan gets brave when it puts its hero in alien land and seeing him through the eyes of the ‘other’. This shifting of focus and using the ‘other’ to reference ‘self’ is a trope that turns the traditional narrative and politics on its head. But soon the film falls into the safety trap having Pakistanis chant ‘Jai Sri Raam’ with no reciprocal gesture from the Indian side. Pride, insecurity or just playing safe? Unfortunately, this smears the edges of an otherwise meticulously drawn subtext, and validates the problematic idea of the inclusive Indian Muslim ‘proving’ his loyalty to the nation despite his religion.

Through this one instance, the entire case built for respect for each others religions falls and one just feels had this crafty film been less safe and more brave, it could have said something much important than spread populist messages. Yet, the craftiness of the craft which recognises the hegemony and politics of the larger framework but leaves its aside and chooses to delve into its subtext to create a new one deserves respect. Just for that, I am sure populism (and Salman Khan) can be forgiven for being in the film too.