PUBLISHED
January 11, 2026
“Writing on Indian motion pictures?” exclaimed Amna, my lifelong finest buddy. “However you by no means watch them, not to mention comply with the trade!”
I smiled. “Nicely, now could be the time to place pen to paper.” My purpose is to strip away the cinematic polish and expose the truth behind the glitz. Whereas Bollywood markets itself on desires and grandeur, there’s a stark distinction between its scripted perfection and the underlying fakeness of the trade. Behind the coordinated dancing and grand romances lies a manufactured world that always obscures the reality. I need to problem the polished facade of Bollywood and compel readers to see the truth hidden beneath the inaccuracy and fraudulent practices.
“Why the shock?” I requested Amna. Bollywood’s “originalitys” has all the time been a mirage and I for as soon as was one of many few who may sense it!
My elder sister, Saira, has all the time been a strong affect in my life, shaping a lot of my decisions since childhood. Regardless of her deep-seated devotion as a die-hard Shah Rukh Khan fan, even her enthusiasm could not bridge the hole for me. I merely could not develop a style for what I understand because the repetitive or lacklustre high quality of mainstream Hindi cinema. Regardless of our shut bond, my cinematic preferences have diverged sharply from the affect of her favorite celebrity.
My tastes had been solid in a Convent College atmosphere the place the soundtrack of our youth was dominated by Western icons like Wham! Fashionable Speaking, Tina Turner, Madonna and Michael Jackson. Whereas Saira swooned over Hindi leads, my classmates and I had been busy idolising Whitney Houston and crowning Tom Cruise as the last word heartthrob. This deep-rooted immersion in international popular culture created a disconnect that mainstream Hindi cinema merely could not bridge, leaving me detached to its charms.
After years of sustaining a deliberate distance from Bollywood, one would possibly surprise why I’ve lastly chosen to interrupt my silence. The reply is easy: I’ve reached a breaking level with the nonsense being produced. It’s not nearly a distinction in style; it’s concerning the blatant propagation of copied plots, unoriginal influences, and, most alarmingly, traditionally distorted narratives.
Seeing historical past weaponised to suit a particular political agenda is deeply unsettling. The trade appears to have pivoted from leisure to a automobile for the Indian authorities’s messaging, buying and selling artistic integrity for propaganda. They’re rewriting our previous to swimsuit a contemporary narrative, and it begs the query: who’re they really attempting to idiot? My long-standing disconnect has shifted from mere cultural indifference to a principled stand towards the mental dishonesty at the moment dominating the Hindi movie trade.
Skilled dishonesty of Bollywood in all probability began with its music. The pattern of lifting tunes is not new; it started many years in the past with legends like R.D. Burman, whose iconic Mehbooba Mehbooba was a direct carry from Demis Roussos’s Say You Love Me.
My additional digging into this topic simply confirmed my hitch that issues weren’t as they had been generally seen by most people in India and throughout the border. For instance R.D. Burman borrowed from ABBA for Mil Gaya Hum Ko, whereas Bappi Lahiri famously lifted Jimmy Jimmy from Ottawan’s T’es OK.
The pattern intensified with Anand-Milind copying Poovoma Oorgolam for Dhak Dhak Karne Laga, and Jatin-Lalit reimagining The five hundred Miles as Jab Koi Baat Bigarr Jaye. Even Rajesh Roshan used Boney M’s rhythms for Kya Kehna. From Anu Malik’s blatant lifts to Pritam’s fashionable “diversifications,” the trade’s “actuality” is a persistent sample of uncredited artistic recycling.
I’m not attempting to undermine the creativity of those music giants however solely R D Burman copied some 25 songs in his illustrated profession every ending up as a one of many largest hits of its time, is my level.
Bollywood’s historical past of “inspiration” is in depth, with a lot of its largest hits being direct diversifications of Western cinema. Iconic blockbusters like Sholay drew closely from The Magnificent Seven, whereas Sarkar and Kaante served as Indian iterations of The Godfather and Reservoir Canine. The pattern spans genres: thrillers like Ghajini, Sangharsh, and Baazigar mirrored Memento, The Silence of the Lambs, and A Kiss Earlier than Dying. Even beloved romances and comedies—together with Hum Tum, Accomplice, Chachi 420, and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin—are reproductions of classics like When Harry Met Sally, Hitch, Mrs Doubtfire, and It Occurred One Night time. From Black (The Miracle Employee) to Dhoom 3 (The Status), the trade has persistently constructed its success on established Hollywood frameworks.
Imagine me Bollywood copied even the dialogues and conditions from some 10 of Nadeem Baig’s motion pictures for Eighties, sure they copied Pakistani hit motion pictures.
The trade’s artistic chapter extends past Hollywood; in academia, we take into account “self-plagiarism” a grave offense, but Bollywood has institutionalised it by systematically cannibalising South Indian cinema. Moderately than innovating, filmmakers incessantly depend on carbon-copy remakes of established hits from the Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam industries to ensure box-office returns. This relentless recycling of home plots reveals a profound lack of originality. By treating the South as a mere content material farm for Northern audiences, Bollywood perpetuates a cycle of mental dishonesty that stifles real inventive development.
The time period “Dishonesty” serves because the very important hyperlink between Bollywood’s artistic chapter and the present media panorama. This tradition of mental theft has paved the way in which for Indian media to stoop to new lows, transitioning from unoriginal leisure to blatant propaganda. Over the previous few years, the affect of the Modi authorities and its youth wing RSS has turn out to be unmistakable, as they desperately try and rewrite historical past by means of the lens of cinema. By weaponising the trade’s attain, they’re changing factual heritage with distorted, nationalist narratives designed to govern the lots. This systemic dishonesty does not simply idiot the viewers—it erodes the very basis of historic reality, proving that when an trade is constructed on “borrowed” concepts, it’s simply purchased by political agendas.
Latest Bollywood portrayals of Mughal historical past have shifted from the nuanced storytelling of classics like Mughal-e-Azam to a contemporary pattern of maliciousness. In movies like Padmaavat and Panipat, Mughal and Sultanate rulers are sometimes depicted as barbaric, unrefined caricatures, stripped of their documented administrative and cultural contributions. This cinematic distortion incessantly aligns with the RSS and BJYM agenda to border Indian historical past as a perpetual non secular wrestle.
By exaggerating atrocities and ignoring the advanced alliances of the period, motion pictures like g use the “invader” trope to stoke up to date nationalism. This systematic rewriting ignores historic information in favour of a binary narrative, reworking the display screen right into a web site for political revisionism and communal polarisation.
The demolition of the Babri Masjid stays a visceral reminiscence—a surprising spectacle of communal rage broadcast to a worldwide viewers. For a youngster like myself, witnessing such fanaticism by means of worldwide media was deeply unsettling. Nonetheless, the true weight of the tragedy hit dwelling when my father, a historian and a proud Lucknow College graduate, spoke on the matter. I vividly bear in mind him exclaiming, “Now could be the time the Hindus ought to carry down the Taj Mahal.”
His phrases weren’t a name to motion, however a heavy expression of heartbreak; I may sense the profound unhappiness and disgust in his tone. As a scholar of historical past, he noticed the destruction of the mosque not as a victory, however as the start of a darkish period the place India’s wealthy, pluralistic heritage could be systematically dismantled by hate.
I by no means anticipated to see my father’s prophecy take form inside my lifetime. Whereas Hindu fanatics aren’t bodily tearing down the Taj Mahal but, the Indian media and authorities have launched a diabolic technique and sorry to say in collaboration with Bollywood, who’s a grasp architect of shaping public opinion. Their affect is subtly ingrained by means of widespread tradition, most not too long ago within the movie The Taj Story (launched October 31, 2025).
This strategic shift in narrative means that bodily destruction is not the first purpose; relatively, it’s the systematic erasure of historic id from the collective consciousness. By reframing the monument’s origin by means of cinema, the state efficiently bypasses logic and targets emotion. Watching this transformation unfold is a chilling testomony to my father’s foresight. It reveals how simply a nation’s heritage could be recontextualised till the unique reality turns into unrecognisable to the very individuals who as soon as cherished it.
The film centres on the long-debunked idea by P.N. Oak that the Taj Mahal was initially a Shiva temple. Regardless of having no archaeological proof and being repeatedly dismissed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Supreme Court docket, the movie presents this “various historical past” as a hidden reality being suppressed by a “Muslim rulers.
Tushar Amrish Goel, who occurs to be the author, director, and dialogue author for the movie have to do higher homework. P.N. Oak the self-proclaimed historians declare that Taj Mahal was initially a Shiva temple (typically referred to as “Tejo Mahalaya”) have been systematically examined and rejected by India’s highest authorized and archaeological authorities on a number of events from 2017 to 2022.
Motion pictures like The Kashmir Recordsdata (2022), The Kerala Story (2023), Pathaan (2023), Sarfarosh (1999), Fanaa (2006), The Surgical Strike (2019), follows a sample of stereotyping Muslims, typically linking them to terrorism or anti-Pakistan narratives.
Movies like Mission Majnu and Dhurandhar—set in Pakistan—are prime examples of this decline. Moderately than providing nuanced storytelling, they depend on caricatured portrayals and factual stretches which can be extra laughable than gripping. This pattern reveals a movie trade drenched in artistic stagnation, choosing low cost, sensationalist friction over substance. By prioritising agendas over authenticity, these productions fail to impress anybody with a primary grasp of historical past or subtle style.
My honest recommendation to the government-backed Indian movie trade is to lastly transfer previous these exhausted caricatures and painting Muslims, particularly Pakistanis, with a shred of realism. The stereotypes Bollywood peddles are blatantly misguided: Pakistani males don’t consistently put on kajal, greet each individual with an exaggerated adab, or stroll round completely draped in shoulder cloths and prayer caps.
This lazy visible shorthand reveals a profound lack of analysis and a dedication to disinformation. By clinging to those outdated tropes, filmmakers ignore the fashionable, various actuality of the individuals they declare to depict. It’s time for Bollywood to cease counting on “othering” and begin investing in genuine cultural illustration. For an trade with such a worldwide attain, this artistic ignorance is just inexcusable.
All info and knowledge are the only real duty of the author
The author is a professor and a wild life fanatic. She could be reached at safiabwp1@gmail.com
