Hyderabad: Naseeruddin Shah has once again said what many in the industry would rather avoid. At a recent event where he was invited as a guest, the veteran actor spoke about Bollywood, its long history of stereotyping communities, and how Hindi cinema has repeatedly used religion and identity for jokes, drama and easy character writing.
In the viral clip, Naseeruddin Shah can be heard asking, “Which religion did Bollywood not make fun of?” He then went on to call Hindi films “the masters of stereotyping.”
Taking a sharp dig at the way different communities have been represented on screen, he said Bollywood has made fun of Sikhs, Parsis and Christians, while Muslims were often written in a fixed mould. According to him, a Muslim character would usually be shown as the best friend of the protagonist, only to die by the end of the film while saving the life of the “hero.”
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He further said, “Laughing at others’ misery is a national attribute of Indians. We cannot take a joke and laugh at ourselves. We get offended when someone else makes fun of us, but don’t think twice before making fun of someone else.”
Naseeruddin Shah did not stop there. He blamed films for not just reflecting this mindset but also encouraging it. He said, “Our films have encouraged it and did it very consistently and deliberately.”
The actor also questioned the celebration around Indian cinema completing nearly 100 years. He said, “It’s been almost a 100 years since we started making movies. We make a huge fuss about that, while we keep making the same movies.”
He concluded his point by saying that this is not a new problem, but an old habit of Hindi cinema. As per him, it has become “a 100-year-old tradition to make fun of other religions.”
His remarks have now triggered a fresh debate online. While some feel Naseeruddin Shah has pointed out an uncomfortable truth about Bollywood’s lazy writing and religious stereotyping, others believe comedy and satire in older films should be seen in the context of their time.
Either way, his statement has once again opened up a bigger conversation around representation, sensitivity and the way Hindi cinema has treated communities over the decades.
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