Leftist propaganda outlet ‘The Wire’ which habitually downplays any historical or current atrocities against Hindus, is triggered by the portrayal of the brutal torture of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj of the Maratha dynasty by Mughal ruler Aurangzeb in the movie Chhaava. The Wire posted a video on YouTube condemning and criticising the movie and accused the makers of the movie of inciting hatred against Muslims through the movie.
In the video, a correspondent of The Wire claimed that people, in general, are ignorant about the ‘real history’ and that Chhaava is an attempt to mislead them about the history of India. Attributing malicious intent to the makers of the historical drama, the correspondent claimed that if a survey were conducted among people who watched Chhava, it would certainly show that they developed a deeper sense of hatred for Muslims after watching the movie. He further claimed that children were crying and screaming while watching the movie in cinemas.
The journalist was particularly disturbed by the portrayal of the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb in Chhaava as a merciless and cruel ruler, which, he believed, was not accurate. He alleged that the movie was full of scenes that were intentionally included to show that Mughal emperors were cruel, which, in his opinion, was not true. He claimed that the movie went against the spirit of the Constitution of India and that anyone believing in the Constitution would be ashamed of the movie.
He backed his opinion about the generosity of the Mughal rulers by pointing out that it would not have been possible for them to establish an empire and rule over a vast territory of India without respecting its diversity. He also quoted a few examples from school NCERT books about Rajput rulers marrying their women into Mughal families to back his claim. He admitted that Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, who killed his own brother to ascend to the throne, was not as generous as Akbar, but according to him, he was not as bad as the movie portrays him.
In his defence of Aurangzeb, the journalist said the Mughal ruler’s generosity is evident from the fact that even though Aurangzeb imposed Jizya (a religious tax) on Hindus, he exempted Brahmins, women and old people from it. He added that Aurangzeb did destroy some Hindu temples, but he also built some temples. In his review of the movie, though he seemed unhappy with the movie in general but he was particularly miffed by the fact that about 40 minutes of the movie were dedicated to depicting the brutal execution of Sambhaji Maharaj after days of inhuman torture by Aurangzeb.
The journalist claimed that the Marathas were no different from the Mughals and that the Peshwas in the Maratha administration committed caste atrocities against Dalits who revolted against Marathas with the support of the British.
Interestingly, the journalist in his attempt to prove that the movie promotes hatred against the Muslim community by portraying Aurangzeb as a merciless ruler, inadvertently insinuated that Aurangzeb represented the entire Muslim community of the present times. Therefore, if Aurangzeb is portrayed as cruel, it somehow means that the movie is trying to prove that the entire Muslim community is cruel.
The journalist also blamed the Modi government for ‘such movies’. He alleged that under the Modi government, ‘absurd’ movies like Article 370 and The Kerala Story are being made.
