Thank God, I am Indian

a guest blog on Khuda Ke Liye:
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i dont know why, but in spite of not feeling upto stepping out, i decided to watch Khuda ke Liye on its last show at Chennai..

for the uninformed, KKL is a Pakistani film that has won rave reviews all over the world, and was finally permitted to release in India..sadly because we Indians live in such fear of communal hatred rousing our cities into violence, the ads for the film dint even feature in the papers.. as a half muslim myself, i urge EVERY muslim to watch this film and understand how fragile our relationship with the world community is and how easy it is for our people to fall prey to what we can only dismiss as 'fundamentalism'..and as a half-hindu, and more importantly, as an Indian (and Muslims make a large part of our demography) i urge EVERY Indian to watch this film and decide whether we want to make the fallacy of reducing every Muslim to a beard touting, skull cap wearing terrorist..

for those who arent interested in the politics of the film, or the issues it raises, there's something for you guys as well.. the music is FABULOUS..a fine blend of hindustani classical to western jazz and very indo-pakistani Atif Aslam kind of music..the girls in the film are lovely.. the Pakistani girl is a replica of Sonali Bendre, and the American girl is attractive in a very innocent kinda way.. both the leading men are great and fit their roles perfectly..and they look good too *wink*

but again, about the film..i left the theatre thanking God silently for making me an Indian..freedom alone means nothing-being able to study or work-it alone is NOT freedom..what i enjoy today is my freedom of spirit, the freedom of choosing whether i want to be hindu, muslim or an odd combination of both (or neither)..

and for those Indians who believe that all muslims are communal, rigid in thought and judgemental, i have news for you..SO ARE YOU!!! by default you become all of that when you defame them and stereotype them so..

i am half -muslim and i can honestly and bravely confess that my muslim side of the family do want me to settle with a muslim boy, want me to raise my kids muslim and would like to see me a little more religious than i am right now..but again, i'm quite sure every other family, Muslim or not-wants their children to be raised the same way as them, would like their kids to marry spouses of the same caste (leave alone religion) as them..the phenomenon is universal..nothing singularly muslim about it..

i am able to say this with the confidence that i can get away with it..because very rarely am i seen as 'Muslim'..I'm seen as some kind of free spirit who has strong opinions sometimes and expresses it..but for a second if you could read this entire mail and believe that any total Muslim, say a Sameera or a Suraiya had written it, your perception about them and this mail would be very very different..and i admit, so would mine..and thats the sadness of it all..

In a nutshell, enjoy the movie..maybe you might be inspired to write a piece as well..

- Reshma

Author info:
Reshma is a specialist in fiction, films and motor RJing. In her free time, she is a writer and a management executive. Reshma can be contacted at Sathyam Cineplex if she is not driving down to it.