The rapid economic development in the past ten years has caused the nationalist sentiment in India to rise day by day. Especially after the radical religious nationalist Modi became the prime minister of India, this sentiment has reached an unprecedented level, and the film industry has also quickly appeared. A large number of catering works, such as the anti-Chinese drama "The Third World War", "Breaking Stars", "Partan", and the anti-British drama "Indian Thug", "Queen of Zhangxi", and then In the recent anti-Pakist drama "Uri: Surgical Strike", which sparked the passion of the entire Indian people, the Indians have defeated one enemy after another in the movie, and with a kind of resentment, they are obsessed with the invincible and powerful national dream.
Recently, they have found a new target of hatred in the new film "Caesari"-Afghanistan.
The film is adapted from a real event-the Battle of Saragashi that took place on September 12, 1897. At that time, India was in the British colonial period. The Afghans who had occupied the northwestern part of India have been eyeing and wanting to come back. This famous battle broke out. 21 soldiers of the 36th Sikh of the British Indian Army faced 10,000 invading Afghans. Because the British army did not support them for a long time, they all died heroically.
In short, this is a war where natives fight against invaders for the colonists who squeeze themselves. Doesn't it sound embarrassing?
Subsequently, this embarrassment continued throughout.
At the beginning of the article, the protagonist Ishal Singh explained the roles of all parties in a metaphorical way. The British are the husbands, the Afghans are the wives, and the Patan people (a cross-border ethnic group located in southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, that is, the ethnic group on both sides of the border between British India and Afghanistan) are the magistrates, and the rulers of Afghanistan have always been Inciting the Patan people to revolt against Britain, trying to retake India, while the local Sikhs in India are wedding guests and can only dance to their rhythm.
As the real masters of this land, the Indians can only obey others' orders. This is a frustrating thing, but in the battle praised by the film, they cannot be hostile to the colonizers, and to some extent they are still defending the colony. The interests of the owner. Perhaps the Indians themselves realized that the core of this story is really lacking in self-esteem, so they used this joking way to explain the situation in order to resolve the embarrassment, but the effect was not good.
Afterwards, the film arranged a border conflict. Ishar defied the instructions of the superior British military officer, went to battle, and rescued the woman who was almost executed by the Patan. This scene seems to be shaping the personal heroic image of Ishar, emphasizing his practical ability and noble character. In fact, the deeper level is to show his self-esteem-this is a Sikh who dared to go against the wishes of the British.
However, the vast land has been invaded, how much dignity can be restored by such a small defiance of orders? Still embarrassing!
Ishar, who disobeyed the order, was quickly punished and was sent to garrison Saragashi, a small fortress similar to a communication station. Before leaving, he was severely humiliated by his superiors, to the effect that he was an Indian. No, I became a slave to the British, who made you run away whenever you are in danger.
This dialogue has also become the subject of the entire film, because Ishar will later lead a team of 21 people to fight against the Patan in Afghanistan, just to prove that the Sikhs are not cowards.
This kind of emotional paving seems to be trying to get rid of the suspicion of defending the interests of the British colonists, but in fact it has devalued itself more and more. Does India need to use its life to prove its bravery to the British? Typical minion thinking!
It's so embarrassing!
The second half of the film can be said to be full of energy, think about it! 21 people against 10,000 people. A battle with such a disparity in strength is bound to be very tragic. The Indians have also given full play to their skills in opening and hanging, showing a lot of incredible pictures. The 21 people are as powerful as fighters. Shaar was even surrounded by heavy besieges, and was able to kill the Quartet.
Of course, as a miracle, there is nothing wrong with shooting this way, but the key is that facing such a spectacular scene, I have no enthusiasm or excitement, because I don’t see anything worth giving my life to guard, and I can’t understand the sacrifice. What to preach? There is even a hint of humiliation.
After the film was released, the box office was very good. The first weekend it was released, it gained 1 billion rupees, and it also got a good score of 7.7 on IMdb. It seems that the local Indians agree with this film, but for outsiders, this It's a difficult story to understand. I don't understand at all what sense of honor the Indians gained in this battle?
The anti-X drama is generally cool to shoot, but the Indian "Caesari" has a cool picture and emotional embarrassment. It can be said to be a very failure. I can understand the rising nationalist sentiment of the Indian people, but in this way It is too reluctant to find national pride in the battle!
Of course, the most embarrassing thing is that nationalist sentiments are mostly used to unite the people, but in this film, what I see is a fragmentation. Ishar often emphasizes that he is a Sikh, not an Indian. This has to be reminiscent of the Sikh independence movement after the founding of India. In the process of competing with the Patan in Afghanistan, Ishar was The Patan mosques in British India seemed to be built to avoid making people think that this was a war between infidels. Because it was too deliberate, it made people feel guilty.
This kind of perception that seems to promote unity, but is actually fragmented, is also precisely mapped to the current status quo in India.
When Modi, known as a religious nationalist, came to power, he was called "the chief separatist of India" by Time magazine. While promoting national pride and emphasizing unity and unity, he continued to use radical religious policies to provoke his already very serious problems. The tense religious relationship frequently creates internal conflicts. I really don't know if he is patriotic or religious or only the prime minister.
However, even so, he still won the most recent general election, with a high vote rate. It can be seen that most people can accept this paradoxical political strategy, so it is not uncommon for "Caesari" to be a hit.
As an outsider, my most intuitive feeling is: the anti-X drama should be filmed less, adultery cannot strengthen the country, and hatred is definitely not the right way.
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