13-05-‘12
Art for Morality’s Sake?
Aamir
Khan’s ‘Satyamev Jayate’ has ignited
ample thoughts in my mind. It’s discussion with a fellow has added fuel to the
fire. However, the thoughts digressed from social issues to an eternal debate:
Art v/s Morality.
That
fellow (let it be anonymous), after watching a soul-stirring episode on child
sex abuse, blurted this out: “Aamir Khan proclaims himself a champion of social
activism but what has he done to his previous wife? He has got divorced from
her. So, how can he claim so much of doing something for the society?” (This is
a rough translation of his wordings in Gujarati.)
Now,
first thing first: The fellow does not even know the name of Aamir’s wife (Reena
Dutta) let alone having any minute, authentic details (factual or emotional) of
what went wrong between the couple. Who deceived whom? Who has been the predator
and who has been the prey? All he has is a fragmented, jaundiced picture
created out of hearsay, ephemeral, dubious media reports. On the basis of such unpalatable
evidences, the poor fellow passed the aforementioned judgment.
Secondly,
(and these are all the arguments, rather counter-arguments of mine which boomeranged
at him. Here is a rough, reported speech of the same) my piercing, moot
question is: What has Aamir’s conjugal life got to do with his work as an
artist? Let’s presume (for the convenience of discussion) that Aamir has jilted
his first wife. Does it, by any means snatch away his right to participate in
solving social issues?
I
argued: (just like that famous, anecdote of Lord Buddha) show me just one
person in the entire nation who has not done ANYTHING wrong in his personal life.
Our respected representatives watch porn films in the parliament (which they themselves
call a temple of democracy). There is hardly any politician who has not been
charged with any criminal offence yet they are so opinionated about anything
under the sky. Why don’t we mind it? Simply because we have taken it for
granted: - Oh, they are the politicians. It’s no wonder they commit crime
because politics is a gutter.
The
plain and simple fact is: Artists (in general) are and have always been a soft
target. And let me make it very clear: I am not advocating an artist who has committed
national crime or someone who has violated the norms of Indian constitution.
Had there been Sanjay Dutt, for instance, who had been convicted under the Arms
and Ammunition Act and even TADA (if my memory serves me right) for possessing
a rifle, my stand would not have been the same.
If
the honorable judiciary has granted Aamir’s divorce plea as per the
constitution of India, who are we to call him a criminal? Regardless of time
and place, this has always been a debatable and debated topic: Artist’s work
and its evaluation on the basis of his personal life.
Since
the time I’ve read ‘Art and Morality’
– an essay by R. A. Scott James, this issue has been haunting me. I’ve always
held that one has no right to evaluate an artist’s craft from the perspective
of his personal life, even worse from our subjective evaluation of his personal
life.
If
polygamy is a sin to someone, he/she may abhor Salman Rushdie or Kishore Kumar.
Just because ‘Mareez’ was an alcoholic, should one stop reading him and start criticizing
him? Oscar Wilde had been jailed for two years for being a gay (which was once
a crime). Does it, by any means, mar the charm of his write-up? On the
contrary, and ironically too, it has made his write-up more moving and
eternally significant. Vincent Van Ghogh, it has been said, used to visit
brothels to help the inmates’ solve their problems. Oh, no! Let’s first burn
his effigy and then his paintings! Bloody, rascals, huh!
Let
me make another clarification at this juncture. I don’t justify any or all the
actions of an artist. I don’t mean to say that an artist is above the land of
the law. No, he can never be, because he is a citizen of the nation first. If
he has committed any wrongdoing, he must go through the concerned legal
proceedings just the way any other ordinary citizen does.
What
I am trying to convey is this: One has no right to impose his or her individual
belief system on any artist’s behavioral patterns (or for that matter anyone’s behavioral
patterns) simply because he is a celebrity. If Saif Ali Khan has been charged
with killing a deer, even his ardent fans must stand up against him in loud and
clear manner but, no one holds the authority to condemn him for his
relationship with Kareena Kapoor. It is solely his personal life.
Let’s
face the poignant reality: Hypocrisy is a birthright of every Indian. Every
Indian has got the privilege to treat people with double standards. In this
nation, celibate monks(?) comment on sex education, senior citizens shape the
national youth policy, Baba Ramdev performs Yogasana with Shilpa Shetty, Rakhi
Sawant complains about people’s lose moral fabric, Asaaram teaches religion to
people, Nirmal Baba solves(?) devotee’s problems. … Incredible India!
Why
on earth are people more concerned with issuing character certificates to
others (without even being asked to do so) rather than channelizing the same
energy to tackling a critical issue like female feticide or child sex abuse or
any other one? This society has never faced dearth of critical problems. No
wonder this nation harassed Osho Rajneesh, Kamala Das, Chandrakant Bakshi and
countless others.
To
cut a long story short, let’s not compel an artist to follow those age-old,
obsolete, anomalous customs of society which most of us have to follow willy-nilly.
Let’s respect the fact that an artist is also an individual with a complete
right to privacy. Let’s stop being peeping tom to the celebs. Leave it to the
paparazzi. Let’s not legalize our morality and criminalize their morality. And
the last word: Let us PLEASE prioritize Art to Morality. That’s it. Thanks.
