Annot The Kashmir FilesBut Pathan The most political film of our times. From its anticipation till its reception it has been like this. So it must be interpreted, lest the subtext get lost in the high-octane entertainment.
giving a lie to the bigoted gossip that, before its release, Pathan Has won the heart of India. This triumph needs to be decoded correctly and not coaxed into a story that runs contrary to what the film supports.
Pathan from the film of the same name can be seen as a new phase in the development of the Muslim character in Indian cinema. Shahrukh Khan’s portrayal of the character holds promise for the future.
development of muslim character
There was a time when Muslim social style was confined to clandestine love stories in quaint feudal milieu. it used to be a mixture of mushaira, mujra, archQawwali, Sherwani, Sacred Urdu, and Courtly Etiquette. Together Pakeezah (1972), it touched its climax.
This was followed by Sher Khan, a Pathan, the best Muslim man chain (1973). An enemy turned friend who is unflinchingly loyal to Inspector Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan).
K Pathan chain The antagonist can be read as a Muslim who becomes an ally after being defeated in a duel. There were different permutations of the character in subsequent films, becoming clichéd as a sidekick to the main character. His main quality was loyalty to the hero. It was the climax of the left-liberal hegemony of the 70s and 80s, and all that was possible for Muslims in secularism. Rule, If he remains loyal to the establishment and continues to serve it with vote banks, he will fall by the wayside. In the 90s, Muslims emerged as terrorists and gangsters in Hindi cinema. He will sport the identity stereotype – the skull, the antimony in the eyes, and Sheet (checkered scarf) on the shoulders. He was horrified and boded ill for the community.
Now comes Shah Rukh Khan as Pathan – unattainable, individualistic, playing second fiddle to no one, and his own man altogether. It is he who extolls Muslims as the frontline soldiers of India. Colonel Luthra (Ashutosh Rana) asks him not to retire. Pathans become indispensable to India – a prospect that is possible only with the removal of the prosthetics of pseudo-secularism.
Pathan is as much a Muslim as a Rajput is a Hindu. The Pathan of the film is a Muslim from head to toe that he does not need to openly display his ‘being a Muslim’. When Deepika Padukone, the lead actress, is asked if she was a Muslim, she dodges the question, downplays identity politics, and identifies herself as a “son of India” in the literal sense. He was a foundling who was taken to an orphanage and brought up and educated by the state. He became the child of India. And so, to repay the debt, he joined the army and earned the nickname ‘Pathan’ for a gallant act in Afghanistan.
I wondered if this founder might be a metaphor for the lost child who became an Indian Muslim after Partition. That child was embraced as the prodigal son, nurtured and nurtured by the state. It got me thinking about whether Muslims are paying off parental debt or engaging in a discourse of complaint and victimhood. I thought of people around me who got the most expensive professional education for free but never had any sense of gratitude towards the country. His entitlement has been unaffected by his sense of obligation. Pathan Seeks to restore correspondence between rights and duties.
It’s about a Muslim saying out loud the longer version of the Muslim greeting – walekum aslam wa rahmatullah hi wa barkathu (Peace and mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you too) – and draws applause from the audience. he also says Jai Hind And makes equally loud cheers. No one ridicules him for being fake because he does not ask what his country can do for him, but what he can do for his country. Since Shah Rukh Khan is both an actor and a character in the film, Pathan stands on the feet of Raj and Rahul, the romantic characters he played in his younger days. He is a Muslim firmly rooted in Indianness. A patriot who loves his country. His patriotism is active, and not a mean bluff to malign nationalist sentiments and question the nationhood of India.
Read also: Pathan is Shah Rukh Khan’s love letter to his fans. and RSVP to the Boycott Gang
Timeline of Indian perspective on Islam
Before entering Salman Khan, his black and white checkered Sheet – a piece of clothing associated with the Palestinian resistance – emerges on screen. Still, the audience goes crazy on seeing it. There is a lesson in this phenomenon: a symbol of Muslim identity, if it is in the service of the nation, should be celebrated. with a loud Peace be upon you Or Sheet Can be a bold symbol for nationalist Muslim and Indian Islam. The problem arises when symbols of identity are displayed to incite extremism and separatism – as happened recently Hijab Controversy.
Islamic thinkers have seen India through the prism of religion. At the most charitable, they classify it as dar al-sulh, which is the ‘Abode of the Struggle’, where they live separately under an agreement of peace with the majority community. If Muslims are to engage with India, their theology has to do more than just suggest Way of living with superficial reasoning. To say that loving one’s country is a part of faith is not enough. Islamic theology has to develop cognitive tools to appreciate the culture and history of the country and the sentiments of other communities. The time has come for India to take a look at Islam and analyze it from the perspective of the country. An Islam that Indianises itself rather than trying to Islamise India – that integrates and does not separate – will be respected, appreciated and applauded.
Pathan took up a hobby called kintsugi – the ancient Japanese art of joining together broken pieces of pottery with molten gold. Colonel Luthra calls him to be that gold for India. Can a Muslim unite the pieces of the country which he broke in 1947? Yes, he can.
Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of ThePrint Pathan The incident ‘Return of the Muslim’. I call it the birth of a new Muslim. May he live long.
Ibn Khaldun is a student of Indian Islam, and views Islamic history from an Indian perspective. He tweets at @IbnKhaldunIndic. Thoughts are personal.
Editor’s Note: We know the author(s) very well and only allow fictitious names when we do this.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)