Other day, my playlist brought up a Bollywood Oldie, which we have probably hummed many times in the past. The song is:
Dum maro Dum mit jaaye gham
bolo subah shaam hare Krishna, hare Ram
The song is from a cult Dev Anand movie, “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”, released in 1971. The song was written by Sh. Anand Bakshi and composed by Sh. R.D. Burman and sung by Smt. Asha Bhonsle.
Listening to this song, made me pause and wonder, that whether it would have been possible for this song to have been conceptualised and released in current times, when even a slight meandering is frowned upon by right wing?
Number of recent and not so recent incident’s make me to have this view. Examples:
Padmavat (i) movie controversy involving Karni Sena.
Ashram 3 (Abhay Deol and Prakash Jha) controversy where Bajrang Dal, Sh Narottam Mishra and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur had strong objections
Tandav web series
Munawar Stand up show, where the objections were raised on content which the comedian might have uttered, if not arrested (basically a thought crime)
If legendary, Dev Anand ji, would have been alive now, would he still have thought it prudent to release this movie and song in these times? If yes, what would have been the general reaction? Would he have been branded as anti-Hindu ?
Just thinking!