Editorial

If you can’t bust ’em, ban ’em
It's a lot of hot air. And little else. With the vapidity so characteristic of the average movie, a producers’ outfit has demanded an immediate ban on all foreign (read Hollywood) films dubbed into Indian languages.
The reason? Well, for one thing, dubbed movies eat into the collections of indigenous productions. and for another, they “spoil” India’s pristine culture. Or so the producers argue.

Call it fear psychosis, if you like, but at least the more vocal among the producers believe they’re about to be done in by the growing craze for dubbed Hollywood fare. With dubbed films sold at a throw-away Rs 20 lakh or thereabouts per territory, distributors can acquire ten such films for the price of an average Hindi movie, thus keeping the risk factors minimal.

Our producers had better quit tilting at windmills. The gravest threat to them isn’t Hollywood. There are worse dangers under the sun, such as threats to life. Or bad scripts, escalating film prices or even cable piracy... Indeed, their threats lie closer home. Hollywood is a million miles away

The Hindi producers are a worried lot, but naturally. However, calling for a ban on those grounds is nothing but perverse muscle-flexing. Rather like the neighbourhood paanwallah demanding that other paanshops in the vicinity be closed down because they’re generating profits, while he isn’t. If you can’t beat ’em, ban ’em!
The ban may suit the producers just fine, for after all, it means doing away with part of the menacing competition. But what of the distributors? Surely, they can’t be expected to be signatories to a proposal that isn’t quite loaded in their favour? And indeed, though no one’s really thinking of them, what of the audience? What right have a handful of producers to decide what’s safe for the teeming millions to watch?

Just over a year ago, when part of the Kannada movie industry attempted, unsuccessfully, to clamp an embargo on Hindi releases, nearly all of Mumbai was up in arms. It was unconstitutional, a restrictive trade practise, said Mumbai’s shouting brigade, a complete anathema in a liberalised, open economy. Now, here thay are, much the same people, plotting to clamp an embargo on Hollywood! Apparently, what’s wrong for the goose is absolutely right for the gander.


Pot calls kettle black?
Are dubbed Hollywood movies any more “corrupting” than some of our local pot-boilers? There are those who argue that our most potent desi brews can be a great deal more vicious than anything out of Hollywood. But let the censors decide on that one.

Will the ban on dubbed foreign films help improve the quality of our own productions? Unlikely. On the contrary, it will only deprive movie buffs in the interiors access to some quality Hollywood movies. All this, so that a handful of Mumbai’s producers can continue to grow rich. At the cost of almost everybody else.

As things stand, it’s highly unlikely that the ban will ever be enforced. Even if it is, the ban’s unlikely to come because dubbed films “spoil” India’s culture and corrupt “gullible” souls. Because, if threat to the nation’s culture was the issue, why impose a blanket ban on all dubbed films? Should the worthy films also be denied exhibition for no fault of theirs?

Perhaps our producers had better stick to what they do best — producing films. Instead of attempting to take on the role of the self-righteous moral police, or tilting at other windmills of the sort. In any case, the gravest threat to them isn’t Hollywood. There are worse dangers under the sun, they’d better beware of — such as threats to their personal security and extortion bids. Or bad scripts, cliched plots, escalating film prices, or even cable piracy. Indeed, their threats lie closer home. Hollywood is a million miles away.

Shaju George Alex