And now, the Catholics

IN Opinion | 26/05/2006

The issue is simple: should a work of fiction be taken as history and if some people are silly enough to do that, should governments intervene?

You don`t say!

 Darius Nakhoonwala

Religion is back with a bang. The Hindus and the Muslims have been at it for many years now, and it was the turn of the Catholics to make a song and dance over the film version of a novel, namely, The Da Vinci Code. Notably, however, they had done nothing when the book itself first came to India about three years ago, which leads one to suspect that some clever marketing ploy might be at work. If a huge fuss is made it more-or-less guarantees house-full for the film.

The issue is simple: should a work of fiction be taken as history and if some people are silly enough to do that, should governments intervene? Common sense suggests that fiction is just what the term says - fiction. But political sense requires governments to meddle. This is what happened over the Da Vinci film. In the end influential Christian organizations did insist on a ban.

Be that as it may, it gave leader writers a chance to sound off. And with the exception of Deccan Herald which once had its office attacked by a Muslim mob because in a short story it published, the main character was called Mohammad and at the end the writer wrote "Mohammad was a fool", all other major papers wrote edits.

The Telegraph wrote "two institutions are undermined by such a position — democracy and religion itself. The intervention of the State in matters of creative expression is a sad comment on the maturity and intelligence of both the polity and the people it governs. The idea of bringing forward the disclaimer — that the film is a work of fiction — from the end to the beginning of the film reduces an entire nation to a presumed state of juvenility that ought to be an insult to any enlightened citizen." Well put, Mr Editor.

The Hindu was equally critical. " The decision was right but the process by which it was arrived at was hugely flawed…. there remains a worrying question. How would Mr. Dasmunsi and the Central Government have reacted had the clergy demanded a ban on The Da Vinci Code? Would religious sentiment have been invoked to order that the film remains in the cans?"

The Asian Age also made an important point. "Most of the church prelates expressed themselves against the un-Catholic and un-Biblical manner in which the protests were carried out… A politically minuscule community, the Catholics have happily lived in harmony with all communities… There is no doubt that the film version of the brilliantly absorbing book did offend the sensibilities and hit at the deep beliefs of those Catholics who take their faith seriously. But even they felt that in a democracy there are various means of protest. ..It is not the role of the government to play super censor in a democracy."

The Hindustan Times, in an overstatement called the whole thing "Talibanesque" and went off at a tangent. "The Censor Board needs to be abolished and the government must think very carefully about the consequences of its proposed bill on regulating TV broadcasts." Hello? Where did this come from? I know, I think. The HT doesn`t criticize this government, least of all the I&B ministry.

The Pioneer was coldly sarcastic. "It`s amusing to know that Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi feels Ron Howard`s cinematic rendition of Dan Brown`s bestseller The Da Vinci Code is "okay". Ron Howard should feel gratified, as should Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, that their film has passed muster with so veteran a critic as Mr Dasmunshi."

In sum, every major newspaper which wrote said the same thing. But who cares for editorials, eh?