United colours of prejudice

The Shilpa Shetty incident made headlines for its racist undertones, but what about Karan Johar’s films that expose our own desi brand of racism, asks Shakuntala Rao

AS one walks through the streets of New York City as I often do, having lived there for many years and now a frequent visitor, one is drawn to the city’s immense diversity. It is referred to as the capital of the world, all for the reason that people from around the globe live, work and visit this vibrant multicultural city. Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Koreans, Bangladeshis, Egyptians, Italians, Chinese, and Lebanese: think of any cultural and racial ethnicity and you will find a neighbourhood for each. Why is it then that Karan Johar and his ilk continue to turn some of the world’s most diversely populated western cities like New York, London, Sydney or Toronto into bastions of blue-eyed blondes?

Let’s take the case of Johar’s latest New York-based flick, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna which follows his other off-shore films (Kal Ho Naa Ho and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham). Unlike Roshans and Bhatts who venture into non-western locales such as Singapore, Cape Town and Bangkok, Johar prefers to set his movies in the West. As Johar has said in numerous interviews, for him it makes sense to use New York as the setting for his films given that there are more that eight million people of Indian origin living in the US, a country which has seen a 130 per cent rise in the number of Indian immigrants since the beginning of this millennium.

It is predicted that US will truly become a multicultural society by 2010 when the majority population will be non-white with Hispanic, Chinese and Indian population growing at a faster pace than any other segment. In New York, white non-Hispanic population is a minority. Yet, Johar’s landscape is peppered with white-only Americans (characteristically buffoons as they are) in an almost cinematic replication of an apartheid society.

From the dancing clubs, a kiddy game and bed store to a fashion magazine office, Johar ‘white-washes’ the New York backdrop with tall and blonde, albeit empty-headed, men and women. I wonder if Johar cares to remember the sad statistics of 9/11 — people from 21 nations died when the twin towers came down with the highest casualty being African Americans and people of Bangladeshi descent. As an American friend who watched KANK said sarcastically, "Where did they find so many white people in New York?"`A0

Johar’s obsession for white (blonde) culture comes with a colonial baggage that gave us the "Fair and Lovely" cream and increased the demand for "convent-educated girls" in matrimonial ads.

All is not lost. Yash Chopra’s Dhoom 2 included Spanish actors and songs in their lyrics as the movie played out in visibly multicultural locales of Rio de Janeiro and Tunisia. Director Rakesh Roshan integrated a touching scene in his film Kkrish where Kkrish helps a handicapped Singaporean-Chinese girl and her brother, representing a moment of true cross-cultural empathy.

While the Shilpa Shetty incident rocks Britain for its racist undertones, Johar’s films replicate our own desi brand of racism. As Bollywood globalises, one hopes it will lead to images which integrate cultures and peoples rather than segregate.

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