Thursday, December 22, 2011

The Indian Protocol

I have been harboring this feeling for some time, but it exploded when I was watching Mission Impossible 4: The Ghost protocol movie. So much has been said and written about the role of Anil Kapoor, an INDIAN, who has supposedly a plum role in the movie. Now we all know that's not true but that is not the source of my irritation. For some reason, we are unable to shake off the inferiority complex even after decades of Independence. Not sure if it is due to the way we look through our imaginary green tinted glass, or the "color" complex, or it is just how we are raised by parents and in schools -- to be respectful and humble. For me, there is a difference between humility and bending-over.

I personally have witnessed and heard about harrowing biases against Indians in our very own India. My friends were made to wait, or even overlooked, to entries into bars when the foreigners have just walked past them. Or it is the first-class service they always seem to get when they are in hotels, when we were treated like a third class citizen. I could give you a thousand examples as to how we were very much obsessed with everything foreign so much so that we were ready to put down anything “Made in India.” Earlier it was only the inanimate objects; unfortunately, not anymore. I’d be lying if I say that prejudices don’t exist anywhere apart from India. They do, but as far as I know, no one puts down their OWN race to talk better about others. To say that it sickens me is an understatement.
There is nothing wrong being an Indian! We are more than a billion people, so statistically speaking we would have a lot more assholes than many countries’ population put together. But let’s not generalize that all of us are backstabbing hypocritical idiots. It takes a collective approach to change this mindset; one person thinking or doing differently will not improve this situation. In fact, he or she would be brow beaten yielding to the eventual peer pressure.

So why after MI4? So much have been blown out of proportions by our stupid media as to how this IS the break that Bollywood (the Indian Film industry) has been waiting for to get into Hollywood mainstream. Many touted as this is the next best thing after ARR’s Oscar. Fine, it is the current media’s responsibility to put journalism ethics to shame so I’ll leave it at that. But the damn audiences in the movie theatre, they pissed me off to no end. Getting to act in the most awaited move of 2011 is indeed a big deal, yes, but please do not say that this is the biggest moment in his career. It is as if ridiculing his milestones such as Ram Lakhan and Mr. India. And to go on to say that Rajnikanth didn’t get his big a chance! The nerve! I ask them tell one actor –living or dead – who will be able to pull as many people as he can.

Don’t belittle our very own people, people. We Indians are getting “bounced off” almost everywhere around the world. We deserve respect at least in our own country.