Hollywood and the Ancient Egyptians

I saw the movie Transformers 2 movie recently. It was the last straw; I have had it with Hollywood. It’s not so much as the concept of the movie – which is crap – that I can’t agree with but, implicitly implying that the Pyramids and some other monuments in the Egypt- Jordan region were all built by aliens or at least with alien collaboration.

Take any sci-fi films that involves aliens and you are bound to have a sub-plot that says the pyramids were built by aliens. Sometimes the plot extends to saying all the ancient monuments in the world were all built by aliens – they are a portal to another dimension or they were built to protect some power source.

Imhotep – considered a great physician and the guy who designed and built the Step Pyramid (the first pyramid ever built) for his King - is shown as an evil, corrupt man who wants to take over the world.

Qin Shi Huang - China’s first emperor, the man who united China; is also portrayed as an power hungry evil monarch. The list goes on....Genghis Khan is another famous villain of Hollywood’s imagination.

Now imagine, if one was to portray say Charlemagne (the first Holy Roman Emperor) or Arthur (the mythical king of England) is the same vein would the film be allowed to release? Would the film be made at all is the million dollar question.

Interestingly there are no comparable ancient monuments in Europe or America - that is monuments that date from the period during which the pyramids of Egypt were built. Sure, there are the old monuments from this period but nothing as big or as spectacular. Only Stonehenge compares in this regard, but I was not able to find many films that have Stonehenge as an alien subplot.

Of course, one may argue that the monuments built by the Mayas, Aztecs, Incas are also portrayed as alien-built. One need not mention about the Easter Island statues. As again I am sure, you will notice a certain link between an monuments portrayal as alien and the civilization that built it. The link being that, the particular civilization would not be from Europe. The monuments would be spectacular having no equal in Europe.

So like I said, waiting for movies in which the Stonehenge is built by aliens, Charlemagne or Arthur shown as blood-thirsty, evil monarchs who want to rule all of human kind...you guys know the plot.

Happy & Sad – the contrasting tales of two artists.

Feb 24th, 2010 will be both a Happy and a Sad day for India.

First the Happy Part:

There was a time before.....a time before the economic growth of India, a time before India was recognized as a important player on the world arena...a time before IT industry exploded all over India.

It was the time when Indian goods did not rank highly in the global market...when the Indian middle class was non-existent...when there was almost nothing to cheer about....well almost.

There were two words the World knew and trembled before, two words that raised the hopes of an entire nations, two words on whose shoulders India rested like the globe on Atlas’s shoulders, two words that were a cry for joy, hope, freedom....a freedom from the shackles that held the common man, the middle class man

Those two words are Sachin Tendulkar!!!!!!!!!

The words Sachin speaks when he introduces himself: “My name is Sachin Tendulkar and I play for India” is one that a billion plus people love to hear cherish and forever remember.

It was on Feb 24th, that the God decided that he would break the 200 mark in ODI cricket and he did it. Sachin is GOD.

If Cricket is religion then Sachin is God.

I am not trying to compare Sachin with Sir Don Bradman nor can anybody – it is impossible to compare two players who played in different ears, different conditions and more importantly in different periods of mindsets that people had.

Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar are great players – the greatest ever in the game of cricket.

Here is a cricketer, a sportsperson, an artist who has entertained Indian and indeed all the world with his artistry. I need not go into the statistics, or what happens when Sachin is in full flow, the number of accolades he has won, the appreciations he has got from teammates, opponents, current former players...

His popularity is so much that even Pakistanis would pay to watch Sachin play, what more can I say? Look at the praise heaped upon him and invariable you will find some of the greatest Pakistani cricketers are among Sachins most ardent and vociferous supporters.

As in the old days, when people were honoured by giving them the “Key to the City”, Sachin should be given the “Key to India”.

Now the Sad part:

It was also on the Feb 24th that another great artist of our times M F Husain was offered a Qatar citizenship. This is not a bad thing in itself, but for the following two facts:

• Under Indian laws, a person cannot have dual citizenship.

• The reason why MF Hussain has agreed to accept the Qatar citizenship, thus will give up Indian citizenship.

Here is an man considered as one of the greatest contemporary artist of current times, but one who is forced into exile for following the freedom of expression that is a given to all the people of the country or is it?

People who are accused of instigating genocides and mass killings walk free in India, but its greatest artist fears coming to India, because of the harassment that he will face. Sadly, the government seems not to notice this.

The only comment that came from the government regarding the issue was that MF Hussain would be given protection if he asked for it.

Only the Supreme Court has come in support of the artist by throwing out many of the cases that were filled against MF Hussain.

Why were so many cases foisted on him, because of some nude paintings of his. Excuse me, but aren’t most Hindu temples filled with half naked figurines of men and women?

As the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi remarked:

“Periyar’s statue depicts him wearing shirt and dhoti. But some idols inside the temples are nude. What do you do with such idols?”

“For instance, you have the Vallabha Ganapathi idol at Chidambaram temple and the Utchishta Ganapathi idol at Tiruvarur, where even the priests are so embarrassed that they keep the idols covered with pieces of cloth.”

Now, i understand and acknowledge that there maybe artist who create art with no other aim than to create communal disruptions. Such people should be definitely be dealt with in the strictest of rules.

That India lost of one of its greatest artist on the same day that another great artist was rewriting history is an irony; it is events like these that have come to script India’s history.

As I have remarked earlier, the true greatness of any culture is measured not in its financial, political or military wealth but in its arts- how much is art patronized, how much freedom does art & artist have. The moment an art or artist is proscribed then the fall of the civilization begins.

Let us hope that it does not happen so with this country.