Hide-and-Seek Religion: Bollywood Edition (Part 2)

Aamir Khan pictured in his hit 2014 film, PK

As a Hindu Non-Residential Indian (NRI) growing up in a small town in West Virginia, I did not have a lot of ways to dive into conversations about religion from a young age. My mind was often buzzing with questions that many innocent children have: “Why do we worship an idol (Murti)?” “What’s the point of putting a white and red powder (Tilak) on my forehead?” “What’s the purpose of a temple?” As I asked my parents these questions, they followed the same South Asian cultural trend of taking children’s questions as an offensive act of questioning their parental authority and intentions. “Kanna, just do as we do. We know what’s best for you.” Trusting their intentions, I listened to my parents and embraced their ritualistic ways of practicing religion. There were no temples, Hindu children groups, or friends my age to discuss these matters in Vienna, West Virginia, so my inquisitive nature was weakened in regards to religious matters. I followed the ever-so-common path of blind faith that millions of us around the world follow without taking the time to delve deeper into why I do what I do as a Hindu. While my Christian friends learned about how their faith answers a lot of these common life questions in weekly Sunday School, I had very limited knowledge about Hinduism.

For my immigrant population reading this, chances are that you, too, can relate to some of my experiences growing up in America. Some regions are better at providing social groups, worship centers, and communities to understand the “why’s” of religion, but the harsh reality is that not all of us enjoy those privileges as a minority population in America. Thus, our South Asian religions are denied an equal chance to be philosophically analyzed in foreign lands. Even in South Asia, we see a rapidly Westernizing population of youth who follow the same trend, not because of a lack of social groups and worship centers, but because they want to emulate their friends and family overseas in Western countries. Our innate cultural tendencies of weak parent-child relationships highlighted by limited dialogue weakens the ability of youth to embrace their healthy inquisitiveness and skepticism in religious matters. Don’t get me wrong; I am not trying to put forth the notion that it is objectively good to learn about religion or that it is objectively bad to not prioritize religious matters in life. Rather, my point is that our decisions regarding religion’s place in our lives would be much more informed if we had greater exposure to getting our honest questions and doubts answered, just like we would desire to make informed decisions about political affiliations, life decisions, etc.

In a childhood situation where I did not have this opportunity for exposure, I would have greatly appreciated any medium for me to relate with others and have open, natural conversations about doubts and questions we share about my faith. As I mentioned in my earlier post, movies that use religion as a theme would provide a relatable, wide-reaching medium to do just this, regardless of the number of worship centers or community organizations in your town. Movies are, for the most part, a barrier-free, easily accessible medium of self-expression that can help us better understand the answers to our impending questions through relatable characters that face relatable internal conflicts.

While some of you rightfully bring up that people of one religion would not be able to enjoy or relate with a movie that brings another religion to the spotlight, I would argue that this situation is key to generating healthy interfaith conversation and respect. I distinctly remember watching Evan Almighty and Bruce Almighty growing up, and although I am not a Christian, the messages in these films about the Christian conception of God really resonated with me and increased my appreciation for the Christian faith. These films openly used Christian stories, morals, and historical references, yet they were by no means promoting Christianity as the only valid faith, nor did these films make an active effort to proselytize and indoctrinate audiences with specific ideologies. Rather, they lightheartedly presented themes about the Christian faith and addressed several misconceptions and questions that humans tackle on a day-to-day basis.

I would love to see more films about Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, and the myriad of South Asian faiths emerge in Bollywood. Ultimately, we live in an increasingly globalizing world in which people of different religious backgrounds interact with each other on a daily basis. Learning about different religions through entertaining yet informative films would be a natural yet effective, accessible medium to increase respect and awareness of others’ religious beliefs. Films like PK, Evan Almighty, and Bruce Almighty are prototypes for directors to build upon. Something as simple as having characters walk through a meta-cognitive journey about their religion can go a long way. I would go as far as to say that this would strengthen relationships between people of different backgrounds and enrich our knowledge of different cultures/faiths. We may not feel as comfortable or inclined to go to worship sites or organizations of other faiths, but I have a strong feeling that we wouldn’t have a problem with watching an entertaining, artistic movie.