Khuda Ke liye

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Sometime ago, Shabana Azmi was speaking on the increasing radicalisation of Islam and she said… “The fight today cannot be between the Christian and the Muslim, the fight cannot be between the Hindu and the Muslim—the fight needs to be between ideologies—the ideologies of the liberal versus the ideologies of the extremist. The liberal Muslim, Christian, Hindu on the same side against the extremist Muslim, Christian, Hindu on the other”.

Watching Khuda ke Liye reaffirmed that for me.

The film, narrated against the landscape of Pakistan, Afghanistan, the UK and the USA, is story of three Pakistani Muslims caught in the crossfire between the extremism and fundamentalism, which has become a part of the twenty-first century existence. While doing this, it raises important questions on the real meaning of Islam. Many of these dialogues have been given to Maulana Wali (played by Naseeruddin Shah) – the voice of liberal Islamic scholarship in the film.

I searched for some of those dialogues on the Web… And here are two that I particularly liked… “Deen mein dadi hai, dadi mein deen nahin”… Religion mentions a beard, but religion is not in a beard… “Haraam ki kamai jeb me rakhkar, halal ghosht ki dukaan dhoondhte hain” (People look for Halal meat shops with inappropriate earnings in their pocket)… And so he continues…

It is true that the film has its cinematic flaws. But from a socio-economic perspective, it is probably the most relevant film made in recent times on the subcontinent. The mammoth sized Hindi film industry should probably feel suitably sheepish that the international film that poses the most relevant questions in a post 9/11 world comes from across the border.

Another interesting thing about the film was the ease with which the director moved between the sub-continent and international landscape. The west was not merely stamped with a ‘promiscuous’ or ‘gora’ identity as it is in so many Indian films. Instead, it was shown as being very human – with all the black, white and grey that goes with it.

There were also universal themes, which always succeeded in striking a chord.

As the two protagonists struggled against more traditional mindsets within their community to be musicians, I couldn’t help thinking that their battle is not dissimilar to that faced by moderates/liberals from other communities. As someone who grow up in a Christian home, it was common to have to resist voices that told you that music, dancing and films were corrupting influences that were brought to you by the devil (Yes…surprise, surprise… Contrary to the projection of Indian Christians in most Hindi films… Most churches have historically spoken against all three.) Yet, for some reason, when Islamic clerics mouth the same tune as their Christian counterparts, it is viewed to be very medieval. Can we not see that it is extremism that is medieval, not religious beliefs?

It is for all these reasons that I would recommend Khuda ke Liya. It makes you think about some of the most burning issues of our times, without ever boring you. That’s more than most of the brilliant films of our times can claim.

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Tags: Khuda ke Liya, Pakistan cinema