Sometimes I'm not sure if art/entertainment is used to try and mould people's thinking, or if movies (and other artwork) simply reflect the biases/prejudices inculcated into the general populace...

I'm watching "Kadaisi Ulaga Por" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32991468/) at the moment and it does make me wonder about how the everyday Indian, or specifically Tamilian, on the street views the world. Is the movie a true reflection of how they perceive the world? Or is that how they are meant to think the world is after watching the movie?

The movie is set in the near future and sees India as surrounded by enemies. China, Russia, and the Middle East breaks away from the UN and sets up their own rival organiztion. Sri Lanka and other nations join them. India stands as the last holdout in the region.

In several scenes, they have a "war criminal" from Sri Lanka attacking and killing Indians as this new group invades India.

I have to wonder — is this how India sees itself? The one lone holdout against enemy forces in the region? Or is this propaganda to get people to see themselves as such?

If this was one single example, I wouldn't have thought so. But in addition to the constant anti-Pakistani imagery in Indian movies, I've seen emerging anti-Chinese messaging in Indian movies in the past few years.

Sure, this also mirrors what you see from the US, which also appears to be upping its anti-Chinese messaging.

But in a world where everybody seems to think that getting the message out to the most number of people, whether it's true or not, is the most important thing, how do I determine what really is true? How does the general person on the street learn to differentiate between propaganda and entertainment?

And how much do these entertainers care about the messaging they disseminate?

#Movies #Tamil #India #PropgandaOrEntertainment

@f
I am going to take a shot at this from a common person's perspective with a disclaimer that what I say might be totally incorrect.

The portrayal that India stands alone in its region is somewhat shaped by history. At different times India had issues with its neighbours. 4 wars with Pak with ongoing Kashmir issue. 1962 war with China and recent border skirmishes. Strained relationship in past with Sri Lanka on LTTE and so on.
Relations with US had been cold for a long time.

1/2

@f
So when a movie decides to paint an antagonist nation the creative team try to tap these fading memories and sentiments. It also is influenced by the region. For e.g. a Tamil movie will focus more on Sri Lanka since that is a more emotive issue for Tamilians. For Punjab this will be Pakistan.

I also think people, especially younger generation, see these films as entertainers rather than really pondering on the msg in the film. Just read the IMDB comments for this title.

2/2