EP. 23 – Desi Truths

Samia and Samar discuss a Bollywood movie that has some surprising social biases hidden within.

They discuss:

• Samia’s discoveries while watching a Bollywood film with her husband
• Importance of conscious consumerism
• Portrayal of antagonists in media and the impact on societal expectations
• Cultural tendency to shift blame from self to larger entity

Matcha Talk Website – Say Salaams

BASIC BREAKDOWN

Samia shares a synopsis of an Indian Bollywood movie she recently re-watched with her husband. The pride of the family, an adopted boy falls in love with a woman who is of a different economic, social, religious background. His family rejects their relationship but due to tragedy in her family he decides to marry her in disobedience of his family’s wishes and is subsequently kicked out. After considerable time passes, the boy’s younger brother grows up and reconnects his broken family.

The premise of the movie is discussed. Samia’s husband mentioned that his culture does not view socioeconomic differences as a major concern.

The supporters of one political faction in America had said they would rather vote for the evil they can see rather than that which they couldn’t (in reference to the Trump and Hillary campaigns of the previous election). Toxic people in the family even expands depending on the situation so one can never know how evil a person is, this fallacy is pointed out.

The idea of conscious consumerism is brought up once again, movies pushing implicit biases and agendas. On the topic of Muslims being portrayed negatively, implicitly, in Bollywood they discuss movies with agendas. Colonization is discussed and its effects in culture and movies.

The ideals of the society, portrayed by characters, are not even true for the actors playing them and the double standards of media and society is discussed. Expectations of society should not be based on what is seen on the screen. Media becomes a training manual for people to learn the bad and miss the downfall of the characters and learn the correct lessons.

Black Panther is mentioned, a discussion of what is a victim or taken ownership of their actions. Samia compares evil characters in Korean media, who are often redeemable, while similar characters in Pakistani dramas are not consistently so.

They discuss emotional manipulation, gas lighting etc. portrayed in the movie. This leads to a discussion of the flaws in their culture. They discuss balance of responsibilities to relationships versus responsibilities to the self.

The recent tragedy of a rape in Pakistan that is now leading a discussion of women’s values in society is discussed. People often blame the large scale ‘government’ rather than hold themselves or those around them responsible, despite this being a global concern.

Holding oneself accountable and seeing the long reaching consequences is more important than forcing unrealistic expectations on a people or society.