Art for Morality's Sake?

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.