SERENG Nagpuri Movie
Watched this movie today.Although I didn't have much expectations from the movie and had gone only because it's made by guys from our city, this movie still disappointed me and I was really disheartened. I am not gonna comment on the technical or acting part of the movie because the creators are new to this field and it's not a very bad film either. What pricked me was the two main lead characters. So the movie is about a tribal girl "Maghi Munda" who comes from Kolebira,Simdega. Her brother 'Sandeep' has gone to join the Maoist party because the tribal MLA candidate he was supporting and idealizing turned out to be a typical Chor-Lutera politician that supports Diku oppressor-thekedar. Maghi Munda's parents are murdered and she is also threatened to leave the village. Maghi's fiance also refused to marry her. Tired and defeated Maghi then comes to Ranchi in search of work and guess whom she meets in Ranchi. SERAJ ANSARI. From that point it's a typical bollywood type love story, where they fall in love and have problems in their love life, eventually they are separated. After separation Maghi opens a band and names it SERAJ BAND BAJA, invites Seraj to inaugurate and goes on to become a very successful tribal entrepreneur. Now, the movie is advertised as a film based on tribal culture and problems of naxalism, but the movie hardly talks about the culture and naxalism. In the name of culture it literally only has two Sarhul Songs. Now the makers can make anything they want, it's their resources and their right, one should not question their artistic choices, but as a tribal myself I found it as a lost opportunity, i assume it's their first film and they wanted to make a film based on tribal culture and problems faced by them, there was no need to make it an inter-caste love story, Seraj could have been any other tribal person, you just change the main character's name and nothing changes, it's not even a typical inter-caste love story where the lovers have to face many difficulties because they come from different caste or religion, Seraj being a muslim person doesn't serve anything to the story. Now in the current political scenario where it can easily be called Love Jihad, it's beyond my understanding why the makers would deliberately try to create controversy. It feels like the makers went out of their way to create this problem so that their movie can create some buzz.
After the movie me and my partner were talking about this, and my partner asked me not to see the religious angle as it had nothing to do with the story, the boy doesn't force the girl to convert, or do anything against her will. I agree, it's not a so called love-jihad propaganda, it doesn't talk about any religion, it's just a love story. Me and my partner are fairly progressive and don't see everything with the prism of religion, but I only had one question at the end of the conversation "if we have a son, would you agree to give him a typical Muslim or Hindu name like Seraj, Abdul, Ram, Shiv, Shankar etc?? I don't know what's wrong with giving a tribal child such names, it just feels not right.
Giving love and respect to people across religious and caste boundaries is good, ethical and appreciable and I'm all for it. But doing it just for the sake of it or as a token is totally different in my opinion.
Do you guys think I'm overreacting or reacting to a non-issue? Should I change my perspective?? Am I being a casteist bigot? Or is my reaction justified?? Please do share your opinion. 🙏