Maulanas cry foul over a ’suhaag-raat’

these are perfect times to forge hindu-muslim unity. the maulanas should invite shiv sena, swadeshi manch etc to share the podium and show a common front in solidarity for indian abroo.

What would you say if these leaders (. Hindus or Muslims does not matter) approach Polictical reps and get the movie, or scenes, of this nature banned? Would that be OK? In that case only the mode of expressing their disagreement by these religious leaders would be condidered incorrect.


Yes, if they hav the support of the public, let it be banned. After all, thats what Indira Gandi did with Kissa Kursi Ka.

``nudity is out, porn is out, talking about sex is out, performances of the Vagina monologues definitely out;``


Out for who? The millions who made a movie about Lesbians a hit? ``Girlfriend`` was it not? The millions who watched Insaaf Ka Tarazu and made it a hit back in the 70s? If porn is out, who buys the Malyali skin flics that are made in the thousands? I am not even going to mention the Mastram novels and the Human Digests u get outside Delhi Railway station...oops, guess I just did. U should check out the respectable ``uncle types who end up buying stuff like that..For all u know, maybe the Maulanas did so too on their way back to Deoband or whatever.

``Her ``breezy tone`` is a facade and one that comes easy to many English-educated, liberal Indians.``

Sure it comes easy, as it does prolly to me. So how is it a facade? Do I have to speak Bhojppuri to keep it real?

Re: # 9

I wonder what is meant by `practicing muslim`? Is it like practicing law as done by professional lawyers who remind us of the famous couplet of Akbar Allahabaadi calling them as sons of Iblees (Satan)?

Re: # 9

Is it merely the birth of a person that decides his religion? Is it not something more substantial like having faith, and following it in essence at least, if not in practice?

There should be legal age of religion like you have for sex and marriage.

#23, #24

shoresahib, suresahib, you are absolutely right about khan-e-saman not being harem master (i would think of him a chief quarter master general) and many eunuchs being high officials. however, many eunuchs were also part of the harems, and yes they are/were humans but few were/are ``natural``. Actually, the eunuch have a far longer history, even the ancient egyptians raised eunuchs in important positions, so much so that they had their tombs with all their parts embalmed, so that they could enjoy afterlife to the fullest. then their is a great eunuch warrior shikhandi from mahabharat who slayed bhishma.

#20

alas, i was not there, at least i dont remember. i just hope that someone makes a film which shows these important aspects. also will be nice to get a picture of the various karkhanas, huge rabble which followed armies around, ferner mercenary golandaz, irrigation, darshanias, pharmacist who made potions for various reasons, the kitchens, the english stage-coach which shahjehan demanded as a bribe for factory permit in surat.

in short, we should be protesting for the ignorant baroque crap which gets dished out as our mughal history.

Kulharee

OK, i get your point, but the fact is, its not porn or anything, and it is just a film, the film vallahas have added a kiss scene, so what, big deal there is much worse availabale to see with western channels all over the airwaves in India Pakistan that are uncensored.

I just feel its too much a fuss over something trivial, why can the maulanas and shiv sena ppl not fuss over the treatment of raped women or child abuse, something that is worth having a press conference about rather than a silly kiss scene that may offend the sensibilities of an empire long gone?

These holier than thou people are trying to impose some sort of moral policing, and to an extent society does require moral policing but i think sometimes its just overkill, for most of these religious types its just an ego trip trying to cause a lot of fuss over something so non important to make themselves feel good and get a bit of attention, when really in our societies we should be causing a fuss over so many other bigger issues and it is these religious types that should be alerting us and causing the fuss over major abuses in society.

By telling a few film makers that they were wrong to kiss in a film, the shive sena and mullah types have not fulfilled their responsibility to society, they may feel they have `raised the voice of concern` for saving society from a major paap/gunah, but the biggest paapis and gunehgaars are among themselves and no amount of finger pointing at film kisses is going to detract from that.

With men of the cloth, safron, green, or white, comes a lot of responsibility and it encompasses a hell of a lot more than silly press conferences on film kiss scenes or disrupting valentines day celebrations.

The Eunuchs of Delhi, Mughal, Golcanda, Hyderabad, Khanates were not the zunkhas you see on roadsides... These were children raised by the Palace administration to fulfil many roles...

One of which was to protect and guard the Royal women... that would be mothers, daughters, wives, concubines, sons, future kings.....

THe Yeni Cheri of Turkey fulfilled a similar purpose....

In Saffavid and Qajar Iran, In Mughal India, in Fatimid Egypt, and Turkish Sultanates, the Khwaja Siraa performed the important tasks of being palace guards, administrators, The Queer eye for the Emperor, designers, architects, poets, dancers, teachers, poets, etc....


Arent Eunuchs human too, Jang Sahib....

Re: # 19
Khan-e-Saman had nothing to do with the Harem and everything to do with the Treasury...

Khan-e-Saman was a very very High post.....and the British Raj made it that of a Indian butler.....

Re: # 14

Catfischblues has it all confused. The debate is not about whether or not the author enjoys it. But rather, whether he/she is right in saying `I am a muslim, and I dont find anything wrong with the scenes.` That was merely the author`s personal opinion.
He may like it/dislike it/ object to it/ recommend it... thats immaterial. The fact that he gives his instance, as if he is the one who represents Islam... like suggesting that what he does, is what the average muslim does.... is what I object to.
And my dear Cat-whatever-blue: Religion/ science/ faith... these things ARE in black and white. When water is cooled to temperatures at 0 degrees celsius, at atmospheric pressure, it freezes to solid ice.
You either believe that, or you dont.
And so I shall continue with believing in scientific principles as well as religious preachings, unless someone proves them otherwise.

And mind you, if a maulana of your locality, who is also a consumer of all the things you mention, claims to be a practicing muslim, I would`nt buy his words either.

What makes you think I was ranting?

Peace to you too.

Re:# 12
I could,nt agree with Burpinder more,we Indians are a bunch of hypocrites when it comes to sex.. . Talking about sex,hugging,kissing is a taboo... even Sex education in schools is considered `` not a part of our culture`` ,thats strange for a country which has the 2nd highest number of HIV +ve people in the world.

While hip gyrating govinda style bollywood songs and Vulgar ( I would rather prefer a porn movie) music videos are acceptable ,even the SAANS BAHU serials which are regressive to the core are widely watched without a fuss.
I sometimes wonder what our ``culture`` is

Regards
Nandan

jang, you sound as if you were there...

mughals were famous for richness of their harems, full of women, boys and eunuchs from the world over...moorish, uzbek, indian, nubian, habasi, you name it. a great portion of state treasury and an important khan (khans saman) were associated with the harem. if pfizer were an indian company, they would research court physicians annals.

we should organize a protest why akbar khan did not give enough footage to this rich and unparalleled part of mughal life.

Re: # 16

Doordarshan (the government mouthpiece which had a monopoly till the early 90s) used to beam a ``late night feature film`` on Friday 11.30 which had several ``hot``scenes uncensored. Star Movies and other C&S channels routinely beamed R rated (we call them A or 18 in India) films at all times of teh day. But of course it was too good to last, and thanks to the energetic yet utterly clueless Sushma Swaraj and others, we have reached the situation where we are today!

Stuka at # 8:

If some people do it as an exception in public places, it does not mean that society as a whole has adopted the value and is willing to accomodate it.

Malyali porn would only be OK if it can be seen in the open with family members sitting together, otherwise it still is unacceptable.

What would you say if these leaders (Hindus or Muslims does not matter) approach Polictical reps and get the movie, or scenes, of this nature banned? Would that be OK? In that case only the mode of expressing their disagreement by these religious leaders would be condidered incorrect.

Re: # 15

I like that approach a lot. Let’s have adult TV channels on public airways in India beaming 24/7. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.