Bollywood in Malaysia
Not everyone loves it
Hindi films are taking Malaysia by storm even among Muslims, decries a former PAS editor, who sees them a potential threat to Malay identity and culture
Apr 16, 2002.

By Abd Rahman Koya

Two entertainment extravaganzas were held in Malaysia in April: The first is a special conference convened by Islamic countries on 'terrorism'; the second is the third International Indian Film Academy awards ceremony.

Understandably, the latter attracted more concern and generated more emotions; not to mention it also achieved the desired results.

Indian-made movies have travelled a long way in Malaysia. From a humble Friday afternoon slot on the government-owned channel in the 1980s - watched mainly by bored housewives - Hindi movies have taken the country by storm.

Transcending racial, religious, economic and even educational boundaries, India's answer to Hollywood has been welcomed with open arms and salivating mouths by both adults and children, teens and the elderly.

Welcome to 'Bollywood', the name derogatorily referred to mainstream Hindi movies made in India's cinema capital Bombay (now Mumbai), but is no more used in its negative sense.

Like in the Middle East, a large part of East Asia and a big section of the non-white diaspora in the West, in Malaysia, too, it refuses to confine itself among those who understand its language and culture.

Ask any Malay teenager these days, and names like Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aishwariya Rai, Juhi Chawla roll down from their tongues without much difficulty.

It occupies a special place in almost every Malay Malaysian home - the urban and the rural folks - despite the deep differences it has on the Malay identity and culture.

So much so that Bollywood has been exploited politically by both the ruling party and the opposition in their rush for Malay Malaysian votes.

Politicians cosy up when Shah Rukh Khan visited Malaysia on the eve of the elections, the Umno president wasted no time to join him on stage.

When the same Shah Rukh Khan starred in a film about people power (Pir Bhil Dil Hai Hindustani), he briefly joined the ranks of the reformasi movement's heroes.

Thus on April 6, it is no surprise to see the presence of the deputy prime minister, ministers and chief ministers who rushed to the country's gambling capital Genting Highlands.

As if that is not enough, several heads of the Islamic religion - seven according to reports - attended the event, with organisers reportedly having had to prepare an exclusive buffet spread by the best Moghul chefs, 18 chefs in all - specially flown in from India - working round the clock.

From as early as 6pm, hundreds, if not thousands of Malaysians - Malay, Indian, Chinese and Eurasian - waited patiently at the entrance to the Genting casino, shouting out loud and clicking their cameras whenever a familiar dazzling star passes by revealing their chests, navels, knees and all that is between them.

Seduced fans

Like cigarette smoking, Bollywood's seduction is penetrating, and cannot be resisted even by the pious despite the obvious degenerative effects it brings - ustaz and ustazah (religious teachers), the fully tudung-ed lady and the goaty-bearded religious school graduate with that 'Islamist' smile, all were seduced.

Chances are they may stay out of any debate to discuss the morality of Bollywood movies.

Thus, when not long ago a mufti put the blame on Bollywood movies for the moral crisis facing Malay Malaysians, it created such a hue and cry.

Ask any Bollywood fan why this is so. "The songs and the dances...," says one; "Pretty faces," quips another.

These are honest answers, mind you, indeed they are the only reason to consume these made-in-India products. "It takes your stress out," replies another.

And sometimes comes a hypocritical excuse like "I'm not a fan but I got a free ticket".

This writer, by the way, swears he is not a fan and was soon to discover how ignorant he was about this brave new world called Bollywood.

Yet the difficulty of cruising through the Who's Who was soon overcome, thanks to the uniformity in costumes and storylines. That is understandable.

After all, Indian film stars owe much of their glitter to the ghettos and working class of India, whose only escapism from the hard reality of city life lies in the movies.

While walking on a street in Madras some 10 years ago, I chanced upon some cinema thugs who were beating and scolding cinema-goers and forcing them to queue up to enter.

Most of the movie patrons were in their dirty working-class type clothes, and seemed to have saved enough meals to enjoy the latest three-hour song-and-dance to hit the screens.

Not song and dance In fact, what soccer is to Brazilians, Bollywood is to the Indians - and now to millions of others around the globe.

Yet not many in the glamorous circles of Bollywood would wish to admit that their craft is all song-and-dance. "Bollywood is not only about song and dance," declares Hindi movie icon Amitabh Bachan in his opening speech at the IIFA awards ceremony.

It is what I call a 'Bollywood lie', exposed by the very next sequence of loud dance performances.

The traditional enchanting Indian actress in her decent Indian silk has given way to fleshly spectacles set off with overpowering scenic effects, the principal component of which is an army of girls whose investment of drapery does not exceed five ounces in weight.

Since its ghetto days, little has changed, except that Hindi film directors these days are more responsive to contemporary fashion and taste.

The skirt and colourful blouse are now replaced with brassieres and tights. The big-breasted girl exposing her cleavage is replaced by a slimmer navel-and-buttock-revealing supermodel wearing coloured contact lenses.

The good old Indian-made 'Ambassador' car is replaced with the flashy Benz. And the plot of the pretty rural girl in love with the rich man's son gave way to the tycoon's daughter in love with the billionaire's son.

So obsessed the directors are with these developments that the film world soon merged with the fashion and beauty pageant industries, forming an unholy alliance to make Bollywood what it is today: an unstoppable lust-generating super-factory.

Frivolity, sensuality, indecency, appalling illiteracy and endless platitude, these are the marks of Bollywood.

Scoring on 'unique' theme Bachchan's wife was more honest, acknowledging that colourful costumes, songs and dances are why Malaysians love Hindi movies.

Which explains why the crowd burst into applause whenever the big screen showed a clip from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, another record-breaking song-and-dance blockbuster that garnered more local fans.

Yet a cursory glance reveals that nothing is unique with the movie which had our cinemas packed for weeks: the same hunky romantic heroes and fair-skinned heroines whose eyes never tire of wearing those coloured contact lenses, the same unbelievably tragic love tale and the same awfully wealthy families that the romantic couple belong to.

In Hollywood, almost every movie which won an Oscar is a blockbuster. In Mumbai, directors seem to have resigned to the fact that you can't have the best of both.

If you stick to love stories and bring busty babes on the dance floor, you may not win awards but will be laughing your way to the bank.

On the other hand, if you deviate from a love story and use a serious plot, you will be hailed as 'unique' and win a few awards, without making much money.

It happened at the IIFA awards: Lagaan, which does not have love as its central theme, swept seven awards including for 'best story'.

Yet ask any Malaysian fan and they are likely to tell you that Lagaan is not exactly their cup of tea.

The fact is that the judges cannot help but notice the uniqueness of its story line, especially when compared with the now familiar 'rich-guy-falls-for-rich-girl' plots.

And what with Hollywood itself nominating it at the Oscars for best international film, how dare the Indians not grant it the highest recognition at the Indian awards! Injustice to mother India

It is still premature to judge how far the three-year-old IIFA awards have contributed to the Indian film industry. Having said that, it may have done one good thing.

It is doing justice to Bollywood producers who dare to be different and risk losing money in a world where songs, dance and pretty faces (and navels) are more welcome than sensible storylines and superb acting.

Still, the IIFA awards have not done justice to its mother India. The shows lined up on the awards night, for instance, had nothing to do with India nor Asia.

Almost all centre on sex, lust and machoism. It is disastrous if India's 'window to the world' fails to depict the country in its proper, original settings.

Moreover, it has chosen to portray only a drop of India's vast ocean of cultures and languages.

Out of 325 languages and more than 4,500 separate communities across the country, the organisers have chosen only Hindi-language films to be shown to a worldwide audience, at the expense of the vast intellectual resource the country has, ignoring other high-quality films produced in such highly literate states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Dumped like old slippers

To billions of fans, Bollywood is fast becoming an alternative to Hollywood, yet it has little or nothing altered.

If Hollywood thrives on raw sex, Bollywood survives on untamed lust. If kissing scenes are a must in Hollywood, then Bollywood cannot do away with necking scenes.

Yet the former may have more staying power. While Hollywood has developed a life of its own, Bollywood depends heavily on the music, fashion and beauty pageant world in order to stay alive.

Once its faces grow old, they are dumped like used slippers. Ten years from now, if Salman Khan or Hrithik Roshan fail to maintain their macho image, they might just become victims to other younger-looking predators.

That's when local teenage fans like Ina, Shasha, Ita and Zana may be forced to switch back to Yusof Haslam's same old dimly-lit Sembilu-type productions with atrocious acting. .

(The writer, ABD RAHMAN KOYA is the former English Section editor of Harakah, official newspaper of PAS Islamic party. Entitled "Bollywood enter flesh and coloured contact lenses" it was posted in Malaysiakini on Apr 12.) 2002