MUMBAI: Indian filmmakers are locking up the rights to movie titles that can profit from the patriotism fanned by a four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people.
The nuclear-armed rivals exchanged artillery, drone and air strikes in May, after India blamed Pakistan for an armed attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The fighting came to an end when US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire.
Now, some Bollywood filmmakers see an opportunity to cash in on the battle.
India tagged its military action against Pakistan “Operation Sindoor,” the Hindi word for vermilion, which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads.
The name was seen as a symbol of Delhi’s determination to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which sparked the hostilities.
Film studios have registered a slew of titles evoking the operation, including: “Mission Sindoor,” “Sindoor: The Revenge,” “The Pahalgam Terror,” and “Sindoor Operation.”
“It’s a story which needs to be told,” said director Vivek Agnihotri.
“If it was Hollywood, they would have made 10 films on this subject. People want to know what happened behind the scenes,” he told AFP.
Agnihotri struck box office success with his 2022 release, “The Kashmir Files,” based on the mass flight of Hindus from Kashmir in the 1990s.
The ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party gave that film a glowing endorsement, despite accusations that it aimed to stir up hatred against India’s minority Muslims.
Since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, some critics say Bollywood is increasingly promoting his government’s ideology.
Raja Sen, a film critic and screenwriter, said filmmakers felt emboldened by an amenable government.
“We tried to wage a war and then we quietened down when Mr.Trump asked us to. So what is the valour here?” Sen told AFP of the Pakistan clashes.
Anil Sharma, known for directing rabble-rousing movies, criticized the apparent rush to make films related to the Pahalgam attack.
“This is herd mentality... these are seasonal filmmakers, they have their constraints,” he said.
“I don’t wait for an incident to happen and then make a film based on that. A subject should evoke feelings and only then cinema happens,” said Sharma.
Sharma’s historical action flick “Gadar: Ek Prem Katha” (2001) and its sequel “Gadar 2” (2023), both featuring Sunny Deol in lead roles, were big hits.
In Bollywood, filmmakers often seek to time releases for national holidays like Independence Day, which are associated with heightened patriotic fervor.
“Fighter,” featuring big stars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, was released on the eve of India’s Republic Day on January 25 last year.
Though not a factual retelling, it drew heavily from India’s 2019 airstrike on Pakistan’s Balakot.
The film received mixed-to-positive reviews but raked in $28 million in India, making it the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of that year.
This year, “Chhaava,” a drama based on the life of SambHajji Maharaj, a ruler of the Maratha Empire, became the highest-grossing film so far this year.
It also generated significant criticism for fueling anti-Muslim bias.
“This is at a time when cinema is aggressively painting Muslim kings and leaders in violent light,” said Sen.
“This is where those who are telling the stories need to be responsible about which stories they choose to tell.”
Sen said filmmakers were reluctant to choose topics that are “against the establishment.”
“If the public is flooded with dozens of films that are all trying to serve an agenda, without the other side allowed to make itself heard, then that propaganda and misinformation enters the public psyche,” he said.
Acclaimed director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said true patriotism is promoting peace and harmony through the medium of cinema.
Mehra’s socio-political drama “Rang De Basanti” (2006) won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and was chosen as India’s official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
“How we can arrive at peace and build a better society? How we can learn to love our neighbors?” he asked.
“For me that is patriotism.”
Filmmakers try to cash in on India-Pakistan battle
https://arab.news/576x8
Filmmakers try to cash in on India-Pakistan battle
- Some Bollywood filmmakers see an opportunity to cash in on the four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people
- Film studios have registered a slew of movie titles evoking India's operation against Pakistan "Operation Sindoor"
Egypt reveals restored colossal statues of pharaoh in Luxor
- Amenhotep III, one of the most prominent pharaohs, ruled during the 500 years of the New Kingdom, which was the most prosperous time for ancient Egypt
LUXOR: Egypt on Sunday revealed the revamp of two colossal statues of a prominent pharaoh in the southern city of Luxor, the latest in the government’s archeological events that aim at drawing more tourists to the country.
The giant alabaster statues, known as the Colossi of Memnon, were reassembled in a renovation project that lasted about two decades. They represent Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt about 3,400 years ago.
“Today we are celebrating, actually, the finishing and the erecting of these two colossal statues,” Mohamed Ismail, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said ahead of the ceremony.
Ismail said the colossi are of great significance to Luxor, a city known for its ancient temples and other antiquities. They’re also an attempt to “revive how this funerary temple of King Amenhotep III looked like a long time ago,” Ismail said.
Amenhotep III, one of the most prominent pharaohs, ruled during the 500 years of the New Kingdom, which was the most prosperous time for ancient Egypt. The pharaoh, whose mummy is showcased at a Cairo museum, ruled between 1390–1353 BC, a peaceful period known for its prosperity and great construction, including his mortuary temple, where the Colossi of Memnon are located, and another temple, Soleb, in Nubia.
The colossi were toppled by a strong earthquake in about 1200 BC that also destroyed Amenhotep III’s funerary temple, said Ismail.
They were fragmented and partly quarried away, with their pedestals dispersed. Some of their blocks were reused in the Karnak temple, but archeologists brought them back to rebuild the colossi, according to the Antiquities Ministry.
In late 1990s, an Egyptian German mission, chaired by German Egyptologist Hourig Sourouzian, began working in the temple area, including the assembly and renovation of the colossi.
“This project has in mind … to save the last remains of a once-prestigious temple,” she said.
The statues show Amenhotep III seated with hands resting on his thighs, with their faces looking eastward toward the Nile and the rising sun. They wear the nemes headdress surmounted by the double crowns and the pleated royal kilt, which symbolizes the pharaoh’s rule.
Two other small statues on the pharaoh’s feet depict his wife, Tiye.
The colossi — 14.5 meters and 13.6 meters respectively — preside over the entrance of the king’s temple on the western bank of the Nile. The 35-hectare complex is believed to be the largest and richest temple in Egypt and is usually compared to the temple of Karnak, also in Luxor.
The colossi were hewn in Egyptian alabaster from the quarries of Hatnub, in Middle Egypt. They were fixed on large pedestals with inscriptions showing the name of the temple, as well as the quarry.
Unlike other monumental sculptures of ancient Egypt, the colossi were partly compiled with pieces sculpted separately, which were fixed into each statue’s main monolithic alabaster core, the ministry said.
Sunday’s unveiling in Luxor came just six weeks after the inauguration of the long-delayed Grand Egyptian Museum, the centerpiece of the government’s bid to boost the country’s tourism industry. The mega project is located near the famed Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx.
In recent years, the sector has started to recover after the coronavirus pandemic and amid Russia’s war on Ukraine — both countries are major sources of tourists visiting Egypt.
“This site is going to be a point of interest for years to come,” said Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy, who attended the unveiling ceremony. “There are always new things happening in Luxor.”
A record number of about 15.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2024, contributing about 8 percent of the country’s GDP, according to official figures.
Fathy, the minister, has said about 18 million tourists are expected to visit the country this year, with authorities hoping for 30 million visitors annually by 2032.
