Simmba: The Great Indian Aspiration of Bullying!!!

Simmba is not a landmark Hindi film of recent times. Let's get this out if our expectations first. Despite the fact that the movie dabbles into a number of relevant issues of our times and is a major box office success, it gets written off by most film critics as another rape-revenge drama with obligatory comedy for Indian "masses". Why comedy with other serious issues? Otherwise who'll watch the film?

Besides comedy, there is another important element common in our Bollywood action dick-flicks, namely, bullying.

Success of Street food Cinema

Critics and "industry insiders" and maybe even a large chunk of audiences like to call the Simmba-cinema Bollywood masalas or mass entertainers; westerners call it "fan service". And asshole liberals like me call them dick-flicks where whoever has the biggest penis wins in the end. It is called Masala because it supposedly has something for everyone, and mass entertainers because it is meant for children. Yeah, really! It was probably Buster Keaton who once told a fellow technician that the audiences have the brain same as that of a 12-year old. Not individually, but in large groups, most certainly. Considering the size of the population of the Indian subcontinent, any film would require an IQ below 50 to be a mass entertainer in India.

Coming back to the film, Simmba actually is not all dumb. In fact, it sort of shines on the technicalities of cinema. Editing is not particularly great but allows the actors to perform comedy. Action scenes are bizarre but aware of their absurdities which makes audiences not take them seriously. The cinematography is clean and sounds serve their purpose. There is as much 90's nostalgia in music as there is in the script of the movie. The technical prowess of the movie really makes me feel that career in cinema is just like any other profession. Sometimes you get good projects, sometimes you don't. You shouldn't, and can't be all "arty" about it.

The aspirational bully

But what really draws my attention is Simmba's success. We might worship our goddesses but deep within we know our culture is extremely patriarchal and rape means "damage to goods" for a man of culture. And this is exactly how the film treats the subject. The murder of a girl doesn't get any anger from the characters while rape awakes conscience and calls for justice. Also noticeable is the fact that justice equals revenge. But we love Simmba when he, being tied to a chair, boasts of killing the rapists in the face of the villain. We also love him when he slaps a random stranger in a night club for no reason at all.
Why? Because we love bullies. We simply love Simmba because he can win any argument solely with his bullying skills and he does not have to pay for it, legally or emotionally. How many of us can claim to do that? The bright cinematography and fun-action sequences have already convinced us of a happy ending waiting for us at the end, so why not enjoy all the bullying frolics. Even the bullies in the premise, who ruled earlier, are shown with happy satisfied family lives until this Bollywood hero-bully shows up. And we love them too, until they cease to be bullies and are bullied themselves.

This is what an average Indian aspire to become. We don't want money, we don't want fame, we don't give a fuck about duty or religion or nation; we are only interested in the raw power that comes through these means. Power, not in the society, community or any department; but power in the individual called "I".

But this is not inherent. The desire to bully and more power for just " me" is really the outcome of this culture of bullying itself.

The Problem

"Hold on for a second", an Indian would say. "What's wrong in all of that? If it makes me happy I must work in my pursuits of bullying opportunities."

Well, there isn't any problem, except for the stress this puts on society and the bully himself/herself which movies like Simmba conveniently do not include in their plots. Along with it, is the constant sense of insecurity. I must bully people around me or someone might do the same to me. Fuck or get fucked! Look around yourself, and you'll find just two broad castes in this system: the bullies and the overly submissives. And it's toxic for everyone.

Is criticism of Simmba justified?

Nevertheless, a movie can't be blamed for the system it stems from. It has all the rights to exist not just because there is a market for it but also for reason that it is a reflection of life and times and culture in India of 2019. Not like a documentary, but more subtly, from behind the stage, visible only to those who want to see. On same grounds, the film's criticism deserves to exist as well. If Simmba is an expression of the great Indian aspiration, its criticism is the expression of the will to evolve.






What do you think of this analysis? Love, hate or meh? Tell me in the comments.