Last week, the ministry of culture and information announced that the government would be lifting the ban on cinema after 35 years. The ministry informed the media and public that the lift on the artform would open doors for the economy of Saudi Arabia. Plans are to have more than 2000 screens up and running.
Mohammed Bin Salman chose by King Salman by removing Mohammed Bin Nayef has promised the country to move the economy from oil. They are putting forward a vision to boost the economy with diversity and not just oil reserves.
The three-decade-long ban had been a controversy and had since curbed down the artistic freedom of filmmakers and writers. The ban had been put under the pressure of Islamic extremist groups who claimed that cinema would pose a danger to the religious spine of the country. Saudi had theatres running screenings of Turkish, Egyptian, and Indian films without any intervention from the authorities or the radical groups. The pressure from Radical Islamic groups to ban cinema and theatre as a part of their Islamic Revival Movement it ‘affected’ their religious and cultural norms. The radical move has since been under debate.
Mohammed Bin Salman, who is standing at the forefront in modernizing the kingdom, has been an influential figure in the kingdom of Saudi.
In 2015, according to IMF report, the country would start depleting its wealth resources in 5 years. This pushed the kingdom to maneuver to new paths to bud its economic hold. Promoting cinema and foddering film industry creates an economy within itself, and this creates more jobs and flow of money. Also, the cultural and creative exchange in various platforms on all levels will benefit citizens individually and also the nation as a whole!
Lifting the ban on cinema was one of the strands of the “vision 2030” that the kingdom has been talking about which will bring back ‘a more moderate Islam’ back to its roots. The kingdom also announced that some Twitter users would be indicted who aimed to disrupt public law and order following the lift!
When we look at it, we witness some radical change happening in the hardline Islamic country. In 2017, the country also announced that the women would be allowed to drive. Following PM Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia, a Hindu temple was proposed to the kingdom and permission was granted! The land is allocated for construction of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi. Recently, the government also allowed women to enter the stadiums during the celebrations of its 87th anniversary.
Why is India looking Regressive in this context?
Considering the secular move of Saudi Arabia, India, despite the chest thumping ‘secularism’ sewn in the constitution with ‘blood n cries,’ we are decelerating in the context of Secularity and religious tolerance! A recent Fatwa issued by a radical Muslim Shia group on a senior and well-respected journalist Rohit Sardana for taking a stand on religious sensitivity is a standing example of how some communities are taking radical forms! Not just one, but there is a big list!
While radical countries like Saudi has started to see the sun of change, India is decelerating in maintaining the roots and traditions! What must be protected, should be protected! India, in a true sense, needs to safeguard its cultural and religious spine, but vote bank politics and international politics is landing Hinduism in more attack from the ‘secular’ community and these powers are tearing India into pieces! Lobbyists are rolling the dice cunningly! The 2012 Azad Maidan riots, 2016 Dhulagarh Riots, 2017 Basirhat Riots and many more communal clashes in India is proof that Islamic Radicalization is turning into a violent monster on our soil. Of course, the politics feed on it! But it is sad to say that the world is in the midst of a conscious shift, but somehow, India is dwindling between riots and civil disobedience, despite being secular in blood and bone.
