MESSAGES OF UNITY

Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) is a combination of two generic words used among Hindus and Pakistani Muslims. Bajrangi is a name of one of the Gods among Hindus and Bhaijaan and means elder brother. The title of the film shows both aspects of religion and nation in it. This movie is built on a story of a true believer (Pawan Kumar) of God Bajrangi, who accidently meets a child (Shahida/Munni) who got lost in India during her visit to a shrine with her mother at the border of India and Pakistan. She was brought to the shrine because she is unable to speak and her mother believes that by taking her to a famous Sufi shrine her daughter will be able to speak. During their journey back home that girl mistakenly gets lost in India. After meeting with Pawan Kumar, that girl tries to explain her problem, but she fails because she cannot speak. Pawan brings the girl with him to his uncle’s house and starts searching for her family in his neighbourhood. Nevertheless, one day he comes to know that Munni is not Indian but Pakistani and Muslim as well. This gives him a big shock but due to his humanitarian nature he tries all legal sources to send her back but he fails due to the political situation in India and Pakistan. At last, he decides to take her home by himself from the border. During his journey, the Pakistani army gets to know about him as an Indian spy. Therefore he faces torture, but finally he brings Munni home with the help of a newspaper reporter who helped him throughout this journey and makes clear to the world that Pawan is not a spy but a kind person who helped a child to get back home. This film shows the difference of both religions but also gives a message of unity which is higher than any ethnic and religious differences. It also indicates that religion gives a message of peace and love which diminishes all the barriers.

Both these films illustrate the positive power of religion which on one side shows sacrifice of being separated but together and on the other hand all human beings as one unit. It is possible that these films dealt with this subject because it is something the audience would love to see or Bollywood filmmakers try to teach people the message of unity. These films did not only focus on religion in their story line, but both film actors who were Hindus/Indians are Muslims. The casting of this movie and use of Muslim buildings and Sufi music could also be a source of stressing the idea of collectivism, but this article is just a very basic idea about how religion is depicted in the film. A detailed analysis of films like this can bring out most of the aspects related to religion in Indian cinema because being a user of Bollywood for a long time I have seen people getting to know about religions through films.

A moral value that I got from this movie is the message of unity between two countries, which are India and Pakistan. The scene is when the India and Pakistani people gather together at the boarders to help Pawan across the boarders so that he can return to his country back. It is such a beautiful moment because India and Pakistan had fight each other for a long time and because of  one person, they united together. This film is a great way to bring people closer or to make people understand each other better. It’s a great tool in giving the people around the world propaganda and awareness about unity. The crux of the movie is religious tolerance, love, humanity, Hindu-Muslim unity and the hopeful unity. It tells us what we already know that people understand, helpful and loving on both sides of the border.  In the name of humanity, human being should live together peacefully because Allah created human being with differences. It is the law of The Creation. Different tongues, different colours, different cultures and all of that on the outside. On the inside, humans were created with many degrees of knowledge, intellect, and comprehension of concepts. This is all a sign of Allah's all-encompassing power to do whatever He wills. Humans shall differ, that is not the issue. The issue is how we as a Muslim should confront these differences of opinions and what should be our relationship with someone of a different opinion and religion. That is why Allah SWT said in the Holy Quran:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّـهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ ﴿١٣﴾

O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted. (13)

[Surat Al-Hujurat ]