The release of the Hindi film Chhaava has inflamed communal tensions in India, triggering violent protests and renewing debate about Bollywood’s use of controversial and often inaccurate historical narratives to appeal to the country’s dominant religious group.
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The film depicts the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, a Maratha king who fought against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb before he was killed. Historians have criticised the film for misrepresenting key figures and events from the Maratha-Mughal era.
On Monday, violence broke out in Maharashtra’s Nagpur region where members of far-right groups Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal turned up to demand the demolition of the grave of Aurangzeb, whom they accused of persecuting Hindus and attacking temples during his reign from 1658 to 1707.
Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a senior member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on Tuesday that Chhaava might have contributed to inflaming Hindu sentiments.
His statement has reinforced concerns among film experts who argued that Indian cinema was increasingly aligning with the Hindu nationalist ideology of Hindutva.
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Ira Bhaskar, a professor of cinema studies at the School of Arts & Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said Bollywood had departed from its traditionally secular approach to filmmaking since 2014 when the BJP first formed the government.