This one is about possible pivotal events/trends that may well shape things in the years to come in their respective domains.
Purely speculative, but wouldn’t that apply to all forward-looking statements?
The rise of the right wing across the developed world
Trump surprised everyone in 2016 but could not consolidate in 2020. But he still appears to be reckoning for 2024 in the US.
The rise of Georgia Meloni in Italy, a nation that has so much volatility in its politics that it can even put the Indian stock market to shame.
The rise of a Government backed by the right wing in a country like Sweden.
Putin’s histrionics in 2022 in Ukraine, Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power in China and Saudi Arabia’s recent open middle finger to the US.
Are we onto something here?
The current strength of the dollar index masks the clear dip in world power that the US has wielded for a long time. But then economics follows demographics, social dynamics, and political philosophy and not the other way around.
Believe me not?
Which are the nations that have an open immigration culture? Those that are economically well off but have a demographics and cultural problem in the sense that incumbents are way too comfortable to work very hard and grow the economy by themselves. Or that the locals want a good life and need immigrants to do jobs that the locals do not want to.
Over time, as the proportion of immigrants grows, calls for equality will grow and a more liberal set of politicians assume power over decades. This in turn leads to the “inclusivity culture” gaining dominance over pure merit and this starts to affect the moral fabric of the society, sometimes for the better, other times for the worse.
The growing anti India sentiment across the liberal pockets of the western world
Not really. The resentment is only against an ideology that refuses to bow down to global forces, every liberal out there wants a strong Indian consumer but not a right-wing Government that is unwilling to play by the global liberal rule book. After all, a billion plus people’s purchasing power can be harvested for years to come. Which they were not able to do in China since the country was never really open to outsiders fully. They do not want to “miss the bus” in the India story, the next largest consumer market in terms of volume.
Xi Jinping is right now going after the western consumerist culture in China to such an extent that he has banned online games, placed restrictions on online tutoring and has even banned feminine looking men from appearing on TV. South Korea is the poster boy for the consumerist culture in Asia, the average Chinese teenager is more interest in K-pop superstars than in the rich cultural heritage that China has. Xi is out to change this for good, even at the cost of living with short term pain.
India good, Indian consumer good, but right wing Indian Govt is very bad for the liberal western elite.
Look at this through the lens of power, nobody has ever resented a good for nothing bum.
The world only resents those who are worth something but refuse to play by the rule book, refuse to allow themselves to be used for other’s benefit. India has been talking business for some years now and the liberal elite see this as a threat in the years to come.
How can you have 2 nations within the Top 5 that refuse to toe the line of the liberal western elite?
The surprise hit that “The Kashmir Files” was
Let us look at the history of Indian cinema in parallel to the economic growth we have witnessed.
The 70’s and 80’s were all about Nehruvian socialism. Factory owner bad, factory worker good. The poorer one was, higher were their morals. Rich people were all about greed and corruption. This was effectively a mirror of how the political discourse ran till liberalization.
A few of the romantic 80’s movies were about pure love that was frowned upon by society. But in the 90’s the narrative changed to pure love that was eventually approved by the family – DDLJ and HAHK had this as the underlying theme. The 90’s also saw the rise of the beauty revolution in India. We had Indian ladies winning Miss Universe and Miss World out of nowhere, for obvious commercial reasons. We never had so many beauty parlors or cosmetic treatments prior to 1995.
Listen to the interviews of movie directors from the 90’s, they wanted to make family entertainers where there is something of everything – comedy, tradition, romance, villainy, heroism and a pleasant ending with a social message. We were a confused society in transition and our movies reflected this. “Yeh movie sab ke liye hai” was the motto.
In the 2000’s the movies started getting more segmented and targeted as the Indian audience matured and were open to different themes. Movies were now made for target segments – teenage romances, pure comedies, serious movies, artsy movies all went mainstream from being parallel cinema.
The 2011-20 decade was all about big budget star houses monopolizing production, distribution and falling in line with western consumer culture. Songs were now about whisky, vodka and hook-ups and not about meaningful situations that took the story further. Mainstream stars started demanding exorbitant fees, profit share and some turned producers too. After all, if the presence of a big star guaranteed a 50 Cr opening weekend, why shouldn’t he demand a profit share too? No wonder the quality of the average blockbuster was in the dumps, of course with a few exceptions.
Then came COVID and all the hell broke loose. Bollywood still hasn’t comprehended what has hit them.
Out of nowhere comes a movie like The Kashmir Files. This is probably the first blockbuster in India that did not give a rat’s ass about entertaining the audience.
It is almost as if the director is saying – “I have picked a sensitive and controversial topic; I am going to make a movie that presents things the way I see it. If you do not like the movie, please get the hell out of the theatre and shove your opinion where it belongs. I am going to make a movie that does justice to the topic I have chosen, the way I see it“
“You gentlemen think you will walk into a movie theatre, buy popcorn, crack stupid jokes, and then go eat parathas at the food court to wrap up a pleasant weekend time pass outing? Try eating popcorn when I give you ringside seats to an ethnic cleansing movement that had people getting sawed in half”
If ever there is a real-life situation that matches this scene from 300, this would come very close. Just replace “Sparta” with “The Kashmir Files” and Gerard Butler with Vivek Agnihotri.
The guy figuratively kicked the audience into a dark, brooding, depressing movie watching experience. And the audience lapped it up like never before. I am still surprised that this movie became a blockbuster but am also happy that it did.
Will this herald a new era in Bollywood that can churn out movies that manage to break the commercial mainstream stereotype about “time pass and entertainment seeking” Indian audiences?
Time will tell.
