‘The Accidental Prime-Minister’ is in the theatres. ‘Uri’, a film on surgical strike will release tomorrow. ‘Thackeray’ shall be released on 25th January and Vivek Oberoi is acting in Narendra Modi’s biopic. In 2014, film ‘Youngistaan’ was released in which the protagonist resembled Rahul Gandhi. The new generation of the election campaign has arrived and it is here to stay.
We all know that films affect the opinion of society. Nowadays, political parties have switched to films for influencing the public’s opinion and thus, garner a good vote share. Using specific audio-video for the election campaign is not new and parties had been using it for a long time.
Earlier, the parties used to hire agencies which would build a small ad or a jingle, highlighting the work of the government or the manifesto of the opposition. Then they got deeper in the advertising field and started the concept of ‘paid media’. The parties invest a fortune in media houses which pay them back through biased news and thus, promoting the party. Soon after that, they started building an ‘IT Cell’ which constantly post memes, trolls and fake news on social media. Now, the parties have moved forward and have chosen films as a medium to influence the masses.
FILMS AND POLITICS HAVE ALWAYS SHARED INDIRECT RELATIONS BETWEEN THEM. THERE WAS A TIME WHEN PADMAVAT AND NUMBER OF FILMS FACED ISSUES WITH THE RELEASE. MAKES ME WONDER HOW HAVE THESE LINED UP FILMS NOT HAVE AN EFFECT OF POLITICS ON IT AND ARE RELEASED MARKING SUCCESS AS MILESTONE, PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED AS THIS LEVEL OF COMFORT AND EASE.
It’s surprising to see how films are being targeted by political parties to build an opinion amongst the mass in the name of films.
Kind of changes entertainment industry is seeing is like a movement and it can be seen how has bollywood taken the shape of advertising industry indirectly with politics involved in it.Sharad Maverick
(EDITOR)
The change in dynamics of the content of the films is observable. Once an entertainment industry has now turned into the puppets of political parties. The most ironic thing is that the recent line-up of films is highly controversial but CBFC is clearing all without many cuts. Films like Padmavat faced the issue with their release but these films are not. The hypocrisy has now reached its summit and it won’t come back; instead, it would seek another peak to mount.
