After New Zealand Would Hotel Mumbai Be Banned In India As Well?

After  the horrific  attack on  a mosque  in  New Zealand  the  NZ government has  banned  the  theatrical  screening  of  Anthony Maras’  Hotel Mumbai, the deeply  disturbing haunting and finally rewarding butdamnifying  movie about the 26/11  attacks on  the  Taj Hotel in Mumbai which left 164 dead and many more scared and scarred for life.

Now the  film is all set to release  in India  on March 29.

Hotel  Mumbai  is  a relevant  film. But it’s also dangerous to show Muslims as radicalized  terrorists. The  prime minister of  New Zealand realized what kind of global chaos  inverted extremism can lead to. What  if the white population  of  the world takes up  arms against Muslims  across  the world?  This is a new  danger that has now permeated  into the  global scourge  of  terrorism.

In Bollywood historical films  like Padmaavat and Kesari show Muslims as red-eyed fanatics plundering looting and killing with sadistic glee.  This may  not be  the  best method to portray extremism in the context of  the lurking danger  of  white radicalization.

 The very popular  Armie Hammer  who plays a white American married to Muslim woman(Iranian  actressNazneen Bonaidi) has gone to  great lengths in his  promotional  interviews  to separate the Muslim  population  from radicalized Muslims. The film’s Iranian  leading lady has also repeatedly asserted that she would  never part of any film that insults  the Muslim  community.

But then  the reality  of the Muslim population’s  relationship with the  Great White World  has been  thoroughly  exposed  in the NZ shooting. The NZ prime minister has  banned the  playing of  the video that the NZ attacker  recorded while shooting his  victims. The possession  of, and even  the playing of  the live recording of  the NZ massacre is  illegal in the  country.

Hotel Mumbai  uses   the  tape transcripts  of conversations  of the terrorists and their family and their  masters. Should that be allowed? Should  the  Indian  censor board step in and  clean   out  the film, ensure that Muslims are  not seen as the enemy  and  that there  is  a line dividing  Muslims  from extremists which most Muslims  never dream  of crossing.

Anupam Kher  who plays  the pivotal role  of  the  Taj chef Hemant Oberoi feels Hotel Mumbai has nothing to send  out wrong signals  about the Muslim population. “It is  about a  situation and an incident that is  not forgotten the worldover. No one blamed any community or section of civilians  for what happened  on 26/11. I don’t think that has changed.”