Bheekh maangne se achcha hai, goonda ban ke apna haq chheenna – Balasaheb Thackeray in Thackeray.
In the 1960s, Bombay (as Mumbai was called back then) was the go-to place of workers from all over the country, especially the South, dreaming of a better life. The Marathi-speaking community aka the ‘sons of the soil’ felt marginalised and disgruntled with their under-representation in the newly-emerging service sector.
Bal Thackeray, who began voicing the grievances of the Marathi manoos through his cartoon weekly Marmik that was founded in 1960, became a messiah for the community. In 1966, he founded the Shiv Sena to counter the rise of “yandugundus” (as he derogatorily referred to South Indians as) and catapulted to fame with his incendiary war cry “Uthao lungi, bajao pungi”.
Soon, the Shiv Sena snatched the trade unions from the communist hold, after which its support base grew manifold. The unions were used to clinch jobs for the Marathi manoos.
In the Marathi trailer of Abhijit Panse’s Thackeray, which is based on the life of the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, the sentiments of the Marathi audience have been cleverly – even if crudely – tapped into. It starts with a voiceover, referring to Maharashtra as home of the brave sons of tigers.
Then, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who plays Bal Thackeray, is seen addressing a rally, in which he promises the end of the monopoly of “saale yandugundu”. “Uthao lungi, bajao pungi,” he exhorts. The next scene shows a man hurling a large stone at an Udupi cafe.
Following this scene, Bal Thackeray and his army of Sainiks storm an Air India office to demand jobs for the Marathi-speaking boys. “Your planes might soar in the skies, but the roads that you take to go home are mine,” the leader threatens. Cue the sound of a slap and the head of the Air India mascot stooping under pressure.
None of these scenes feature in the Hindi trailer of the film. Written and produced by Shiv Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut, Thackeray clearly panders excessively to the sentiments of the party’s vote bank. That the film is releasing on January 25, 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, is no coincidence. That it is also the Republic Day weekend is an added bonus. Oh, and it is Bal Thackeray’s 93rd birth anniversary on January 23.
If you thought, by any stretch of imagination, that the timing was purely coincidental, there is also a (not so) veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his 56-inch chest. “A person’s strength is not measured by the width of his chest, but by [that of] his mind,” goes a dialogue in the trailer.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that the Shiv Sena, while still an ally of the ruling NDA, has fired salvo after salvo at the BJP. Several hints have been dropped that for the upcoming elections, the future of the alliance in Maharashtra is in doldrums.
The Shiv Sena is no longer content with only having a stronghold on the Marathi-speaking population. The party is aiming big, and clearly wants to woo the non-Marathi voters as well. While the Marathi trailer focusses on Bal Thackeray’s efforts towards alleviating the Maharashtrians, the Hindi trailer is tailored to focus on his Hindu Hriday Samrat image.
When the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asks him if he believes Maharashtra belongs to the Marathi-speaking population, Bal Thackeray answers, “Main jab bhi kehta hoon, ‘Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra’, toh Jai Hind pehle kehta hoon aur Jai Maharashtra baad mein. Kyunki mere liye mera desh pehle hai, rajya baad mein.( Whenever I say ‘Hail India, Hail Maharashtra’, I always say ‘Hail India’ first and ‘Hail Maharashtra’ after that. Because for me, the country comes first, and then my state.)” Interestingly, this scene is missing from the Marathi trailer of the film.
What comes as a surprise in this course of events is that the Shiv Sena chose Nawazuddin Siddiqui, a Muslim actor born and raised in Uttar Pradesh, to play the titular role. An actor whose roots might have Bal Thackeray screaming from beyond the grave because apart from his Hindu fundamentalist views, the Shiv Sena founder was known for his hostility towards migrants from the North, particularly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Despite this, Nawazuddin, who claimed that it was “an honour and pride to portray the Real King of the Country on screen”, was signed.
The role of the Shiv Sena in the Babri Masjid demolition is also highlighted, at a time when the Ayodhya dispute is a burning debate. When Bal Thackeray is asked in court how he is certain that Lord Ram was born at the site, he sniggers, “Nahi toh Pakistan mein paida hue the? (Was he born in Pakistan instead?)” amid hoots and laughter from the crowd.
“Mumbai mein hue dangon mein aapka haath tha (You had a hand in the Mumbai riots),” Bal Thackeray is asked. Unflinching, he responds, “Haath nahi, paon tha. (I didn’t have a hand, I had a leg)” This is from an interview given by the Shiv Sena supremo in 1993, after the party was accused of fomenting the violence against Muslims during the two bouts of communal riots in Mumbai after the Babri Masjid demolition.
Hum kya maar khaate rahenge? Bomb phatne ke baad hum kya haath jodenge, ‘bhai, kya awaaz tha!’? Yeh karein hum?
– Bal Thackeray, 1993
“Hum kya maar khaate rahenge? Bomb phatne ke baad hum kya haath jodenge, ‘bhai, kya awaaz tha!’? Yeh karein hum? (Should we keep getting beaten up? After a bomb blast, should we fold our hands and say, ‘Wow, what a sound!’? Is this what we should do?)” he thundered in the interview. He also justified the Sainiks’ role in the violence by saying, “Hum nahi utarte toh Hindu maare jaate. (If we would not have come on the streets, Hindus would have been killed.)”
In case you were still not convinced about the Shiv Sena as the best contender for your vote, they launch their next missile. Former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, Javed Miandad, approaches Bal Thackeray and proposes that cricket matches between the countries resume again, to promote peaceful relations. But of course, the politician prioritises the “seema par shaheed hue jawaano ke parivaaron ka dukh-dard (the grievances of the families of the martyrs who lost their lives while fighting at the border)”.
This January 25, the Shiv Sena is not bothered about the box office performance of Thackeray. Irrespective of how it fares, Thackeray the film will have roused the sentiments of the voters (or at least given them some food for thought), ahead of the 2019 general elections.
For the party that has not won a majority since 1995, that is a bigger victory than entry into the Rs 100-crore club. Because like Thackeray says, it is better to be a goonda and snatch your right than beg for it.
WATCH THE MARATHI TRAILER HERE
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