Strange times. There are protests against Anubhav Sinha’s IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack for inaccurate depiction of what happened in 1999. There’s pressure on Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency to not depict how Indira Gandhi was gunned down in 1984. What’s the choice? Get beaten up for fictionalising or get censured for being factual?

While all eyes were on the Congress’ reactions to Emergency, the Sikh protest came out of syllabus.

Over several decades, what has gone unnoticed is that the Hindi film industry has always bowed before an aggressive section of Jats. A leading producer once said that he wouldn’t dare make a biopic on supercop Julio Ribeiro since it would hark back to the 80s’ when he helped quell the Khalistani movement. No filmmaker would want to risk taking on a militant group.

Way back in 2005, the title of Sunny Deol’s action-comedy Jo Bole So Nihaal (the Sikh regiment’s war cry that’s followed by “Sat Sri Akal”) incensed some Sikh groups who took offence to the use of the phrase. Bomb attacks on theatres in New Delhi resulted in one death and 49 being injured. Exhibitors had to pull down the film and several states issued orders to stop its screening. The content itself was not offensive — director Rahul Rawail, singer Sukhvinder Singh who sang the title song, and Sunny himself are all Sikhs. But that has always been the power of a section of Sikhs. It’s not going to be easy for Kangana, the government or the CBFC to ignore that voice especially with the Haryana polls around the corner and the crucial Jat vote a bellwether factor. Did anyone, especially those who thought of Kangana as inconsequential, ever dream that the outcome of an Assembly result would lie to some extent in her frail palms?

Shifting to other regions, “Let’s move out of the woods” is the new way of saying stop dividing Indian cinema into Bollywood, Tollywood, Mollywood and Kollywood. With the Hema Committee Report putting Mollywood on the mat, an assortment of articulate women from all over are being heard. In Mumbai recently to promote the Hindi version of their film Thangalaan were lead actors Chiyaan Vikram (Ponniyan Selvan) and Parvathy Thiruvothu (Qarib Qarib Singlle). Please check out Parvathy on Wikipedia — she has firebrand views on gender stereotypes, on Islamophobia, on censorship and on the use of “wood” to describe any industry. Parvathy isn’t even fond of the expression pan-India, stating, “Remove pan. Just call it India.” Tamilian Vikram, the product of a Hindu-Christian marriage, is married to a Malayali and is multi-lingual. Parvathy is multi-lingual too, at ease in English and Hindi (without an accent). Set during the British Raj, Thangalaan spotlights a tribal leader and has been directed by Pa Ranjith, known for strong Commie views. He has in the past unabashedly said that his cinema will reflect his ideologies. Which makes Parvathy-Vikram-Ranjith a vibrant, socially aware trio.

While the Hema report has made the expected stir with #MeToo raising its head again, actors all over are being asked for their comments. Rajnikanth recently said, “I’m really sorry, I haven’t heard about this report” while another TN actor shrugged, “No issue in the Tamil industry, only in Kerala”. The border gets drawn again. Sorry, we’re not quite out of the woods.

But we’ve progressed by leaps and “bumps” on other fronts. Deepika Padukone posing with her baby bump and an ecstatic Ranveer Singh has got a thumbs up from everybody. In 2017, Celina Jaitley was the first Indian actress to pose in a bikini with her baby bump. She was photographed by husband Peter Haag but was trolled for the pose. However, like her pioneering support for the LGBTQ community years ago when it wasn’t in fashion, Celina did break pregnancy stereotypes with that shoot.