When Meryl Streep took the stage during this year’s Golden Globe Awards to launch a withering attack on the President of the United States, the echoes were heard here in India, and translated into criticism of Bollywood. Our actors and filmmakers, everyone nodded, did not have the courage to speak truth to power.
That may be correct, but it is not fair to single out Bollywood for this criticism. In spite of its glamour and chaos, filmmaking is like any other industry in this country in that it does not criticise the government. Do you think our modern technology entrepreneurs can match what their counterparts in the US are doing as you read these lines?
It pays to criticise Bollywood. Its grip over our society and psyche is supreme, greater than cricket’s – and that is saying something. So the easiest way to grab widespread attention is to either embed yourself into this industry or pick on it.
Bollywood, A Soft Target
It is also easy to pick on Bollywood because its citizens are vulnerable. A small number of people, who are willing to take to the streets and cause disruption, can be a threat to this industry because its existence depends on the Aam Aadmi getting out of their houses and going to theatres. And the Aam Aadmi is wise enough to avoid doing that if there is the slightest possibility of physical violence. This threat can be – has been – used to block screening of movies and extort money from filmmakers for using actors of a certain country.
Actors also attract enormous jealousy, because the common perception is that they get a lot of money for doing little. This perception is erroneous, and held by those who have no clue about the hard work that acting is. But, all told, the film industry is rightly afraid of being misunderstood and its business interests harmed.
Recently, Shah Rukh Khan was doing the perfunctory interviews to promote Raees. The tenor of one of those interviews changed when the journalist asked him whether Indian actors can emulate Meryl Streep. Khan’s answer was so charged with emotion the newspaper spun an op-ed out of it.
"The bottom-line is," said Khan, "you’ve got to speak to people who understand what you are saying. More than the platform Streep used for speaking, she had the platform where people understood what she said."
Also Read: Shah Rukh on Why Indian Actors Don’t Speak Up Like Meryl Streep
Indian Companies Lack Courage
Of course, the way Hollywood has risen to counter Donald Trump is impressive. But just as impressive, if not more, is the way the US technology entrepreneurs have taken on the businessman-president.
Travis Kalanick, the founder and CEO of Uber, quit President Trump's advisory council. In a memo to Uber’s employees, he talked about the ban on refugees and travel from seven Muslim countries, and that his being on the council was a tacit endorsement of the policy.
Google, Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Netflix and other tech companies have also been critical of Trump. On Sunday, 100 tech companies – including Apple, Google, and Facebook – joined a legal fight against Trump's immigration policies.
Can you imagine our technology entrepreneurs rising in protest the way their counterparts in the US have? Of course, they can argue that there is no Trump-like immigration policy being followed by India. But India is not a country without issues – issues that concern rights of human beings and tolerance of others.
There was a chance for a large e-commerce start-up to take a stand when its brand ambassador, Aamir Khan, criticised the rising intolerance in the country. It was a rare case of a Bollywood personality taking a stand on a public issue, and also a chance for modern technology entrepreneurs to do so. It did not end well.
The e-commerce giant received enormous reflected criticism and Aamir Khan is no longer its brand ambassador. The official version is that his contract expired and there was no good reason to renew it.
But, again, it is not just Bollywood and tech that are afraid to take stands in India. Every industry has the same fear – the fear of losing business.
Can’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You
Why, you might ask. The answer may have something to do with the composition of the industries in the US and India. Both Hollywood and the Silicon Valley owe a lot to migrants and citizens of other countries. Some of the biggest Hollywood personalities are from other countries – ranging from Australia to China. Some of the Silicon Valley's most celebrated technology innovators have been migrants – from countries ranging from Russia to Syria.
But the bigger reason is that businesses in India, 26 years after the onset of economic liberalisation, still look to the government for support. And it is not just the old businesses. Not too long ago, the founders of Flipkart and Ola were heard asking the government to support them against the big, bad multinationals.
You can't bite the hand that supports you.
Also Read: Will Snapdeal be Less ‘Ameer’ Without Aamir?
(The writer is a Delhi-based journalist and author. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
Also Read: Bollywood, It’s Time You Learnt From Meryl Streep’s Speech
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