A movie hall is not the place for someone to prove his or her patriotism
Something strange happened in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, a judge pretty much admitted that an earlier order of his was a bit over the top, and while the Government’s top law officer defended the order, another justice fervently attacked it. This was all regarding the national anthem and Chief Justice Dipak Mishra’s earlier order last November, before he got elevated to the top job, alone in court that mandated the playing of the national anthem before every movie in a movie hall. Movie halls in certain regions, particularly Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra had been playing the national anthem for years and many people found it awkward then. At the end of the day, Justice Mishra hinted that he was open to amending his earlier order and would replace “shall play the national anthem” with “may play the national anthem.”
But it was Chief Justice Mishra’s colleague, Justice Dushyant Chandrachud who made some telling observations about this order especially when Attorney General KK Venugopal sought to keep the order in place. He raised several points, including the habit of people nowadays to question the patriotism of other Indians who could not and sometimes would not stand up for the anthem. He also said that the Flag and Anthem codes as mandated by law should be changed, he asked what would happen if people are told not to wear t-shirts and shorts to a movie hall because the anthem is being played. After all, he reasoned, people go to the movie hall for entertainment.
And what entertainment. Playing the national anthem before a movie eulogising gangsters and full of the Bollywood director’s favourite go-to movement, the chest thrust by an actress, is possibly more disrespectful to the anthem than wearing shorts.
The previous order was a bit over the top, although some of the protestations were a bit silly too. There were bound to be issues, a few where differently-abled patrons of a movie hall could not stand up for the anthem, self-appointed defenders of patriotism made a ruckus. Others blamed the Government for this order, although it had nothing to do with it, but it is strange that the government is choosing to defend the order right now.
Most of us are proud Indians and we stand with pride when our national anthem is played. And compared to the majority of anthems in the world, ours is a short and succinct one at 52 seconds. It may not have the flourish of South American anthems and epic grandeur of the French and Russian anthems but it is our anthem.
It is likely that some movie halls will continue to play the anthem even after this order is amended but we hope a majority does not because shoving patriotism down throats before watching bodies jiggle and corny jokes or even an epic space adventure is downright silly.