4th January 2003

Openletter to Krishna Vamsi

Dear Krishna Vamsee,

There is a lot of debate on Khadgam in India based on the perceptions of individuals. You too showed some oft repeated clichés as facts and got away with it. The movie Khadgam I wish was released only in Hyderabad, not in the rest of A.P, because it is relevant to the people of Hyderabad. We have my friends in Gudem (you from Gudem too) who had no opinion on the separateness of Muslims, are telling that they (Muslims) are like that and are therefore anti-national. I do not blame you for not making movie of Nelavanka genre, but the artistic freedom of showing tricolor behind Srikanath, not behind Prakash has added to the poor perceptions of commoners in AP. Yes, your work is artistic and it is a story at best. But for people of heightened suspicions, it would flash out as a movie of facts.

Hindu (in fact Muslims invented this word for Indians; Hind does not connote a religion but by the passage of 50 years we are at overbearing confusion about the meaning of Hind/Hindu. Never mind there is a popular perception and we go by it) by birth is patriotic and Muslim is not!! How come all the 'collaborators' of Bombay blasts are Hindus? How come the NSG commando who died saving many Swaminarayan devotees at Gandhinagar is a Muslim by name Allah Rakha Khan in spite of the state sponsored pogrom a few months ago on his co-religionists? If you read Indian history (you studied for the Civil Services, did not you?) there is one traitor Muslism to 10 loyal Muslims. Likewise there is similar range of traitors amongst Hindus too. The traitors of India who invited Babar to invade India are Raja Jaichand and Mir Jaffer (50:50).

When we see Ali or Rajendra Prasad we do not think of their castes or religions. We do not see that of yours either. The Hindu Muslim crisis is not our problem in AP (excluding HYD). For that to be bolstered, please read PV Narasimha Rao's Insider. You ask as a test case whether comedian Ali prefers to live in Bombay, Karachi or Rajahmundry. I need not answer this. You would know what he would tell.

As for Muslims supporting Pakistan team; have you ever noticed that people of Indian origin, Hindu, Muslim or Christian support Indian team despite being the citizens of UK or Australia or New Zealand, while India plays cricket in those countries? Do you expect the whites of those countries to persecute Indians and brand them as traitors? Whites take it lightly. Yes, I too was concerned when I saw on my first visit to HYD way back in 1980, the autowallah I took on hire pasted the pictures of Zia Ul Haq and Zaved Miandad on the arch walls of autorickshaw. I asked him point blank and he ignored all my talk. Twenty years down the line (Oct 2001) I saw another Muslim autowallh blaring the Gajuwakapilla ... song so loudly. Of course I did not see such Zia pictures again.

We have two types of enemies. Internal and external. Internal could be Hindus, Muslims or Christians. Crime should be seen as crime. A tax evader, briber giver/taker, immoral person, thief, robber, smuggler or a rapist whether he belongs to Islam, Hinduism or Christianity is an anti-national. Waving tricolor as a maniac is not a symbol of patriotism. To be a nationalist you must pass by 51 marks. If you ask a person to put up 99 marks you are asking him to be jingoistic. Jiongosim is bad. Is not it? External enemy, it is Pakistan indeed. We have Indian army to take care of the problem. We need awareness, thats all. I am an Indian when I am out of India, Telugu when I am outside AP and so on. To blabber that I am Indian within India is like Vamsi Krishna telling the people around him that he is a MAN; because everybody around him are men too.

Lastly I take objection to a new poster that showed Srikanth, Sonali putting hands in the Pirra Jebulu of each other with a caption on the buttocks on the two "I AM AN INDIAN." Since the movie is a work of art and more over it is a fiction, I take as it is. I too objected when the self appointed leaders of Muslim community in HYD protested too much. They do not know that they are the sons of India, not son-in-laws (SIL) (always demanding). Don't take this too much because we have cruel sons to an equal proportion of benign SILs.

Mr.Vamsi, you spoilt rest of AP by your film. I would not be surprised if many friends in rural, suburban AP were split by the clichés Khadgam promoted through the dialogues of Srikanth. Anyway you are not Jandhyala. We all know it. Khadgam is technically a very good movie but as a message it is delivered in poor taste.

VJ
vijayveerla@rediffmail.com

Note from the editor: We would like to put an end to Hindu-Muslim issue originated from Khadgam film with this final open letter. No more open letters would be published on this issue. All the interested people can discuss about the same in idlebrain.com discussions.

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