By Ranjona Banerji
The death of boxing legend Mohammad Ali on June 3 was one of those rare occasions when most of the world mourned. Ali was 74 and had been suffering from Parkinson’s for years. His larger-than-life persona, his boxing prowess, his fight against racism, his conversion to Islam, his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War at great personal cost, his kindness to strangers, his philanthropy and the ups and downs of his personal life all made him much more than a beloved and talented sportsperson. He was a symbol of so many things that it is hardly surprising that so many agreed that Ali was correct when he called himself “The Greatestâ€!
Front pages of most newspapers all over the world and top of the news for most news channels were therefore to be expected and were definitely well-deserved. Here in India, many wrote charming pieces about their encounters with Ali, when he visited India for instance, and elsewhere and others wrote angry pieces about how our sportspersons did not and do not have Ali’s courage of conviction.
As is the norm, international writers did not whitewash Ali’s mistakes and contradictions and the seamier parts of his life and personality. This is important because often in India, we expect all people we ourselves have placed on a pedestal to be perfect. And once we do that, reality disappears. The Indian media is especially guilty of this and most particularly with film and sports personalities.
It was interestingly, our resident BJP fans on Twitter who were the most critical of Ali. It was interesting because Ali’s links to India were minimal but mainly because of this desperate need of the rightwing on Twitter to jump onto any bandwagon to get noticed. Ali’s chief crime for them appeared to be that Cassius Clay converted to Islam, which given the Hindu majoritarian ideology of the BJP is hardly surprising. What this has to do with Ali on the day he died is another story.
But for the most part it was appreciation of a great person and an outpouring of sadness at a loss. One of the better days for a media watcher.
**
“Trending†on Facebook this week, have been some interesting stories. Like Virat Kohli hugged Anoushka Sharma. And how Shilpa Shetty’s husband surprised her on her 41st birthday. For all of you who fulminate on how trivial newspapers and news television has become, remember, “trending†on Facebook meant that Facebook users liked these news items. Cricket and Bollywood and Bollywood and Cricket.
This is what people read no matter how much they pretend that they are desperately concerned about the education system in Bihar. OMG, did Virat really drop Anoushka to the airport? And did he kiss her? And whatever Raj Kundra got for Shilpa Shetty which to be honest I did not bother to read. My interest in glamour trivia is often at abysmally low levels.
It was even more interesting therefore to see the anger and frustration with the Film certification board’s tendency to act as a censor board almost 30 years after the Emergency ended. Everyone has spoken out about the rash of cuts suggested in the film Udta Punjab by certification board chief, especially on Twitter and later on television. Of course, people have been ranting about Nihalani for ages and it has made no difference which might point to the limits of media protests or the intractability of the government.
Director Anurag Kashyap also producer of the film Udta Punjab appeared on Twitter and television to tell us that he felt he was living in North Korea and that the experience was Kafkaesque. Most journalists took him at face value because the space for Kafka in an atmosphere dominated by a possible kiss from Virat Kohli is very limited.
At any rate, the media has kept us fully informed on the fight over a film on the drug problems in Punjab, with analysts tackling issues of politics, freedom of speech and expression and the travails of film-making. In all this I did not notice anything from the Chief Upholder of the Government in The Film Industry, Anupam Kher. Did you?