I don’t know how I feel about the Catholic Church making commercial movies. Making commercial movies about HIV. Movies about HIV in India. How is the religious dogma going to compromise with scientific fact? How can they avoid the moral browbeating?
India uses movies to spread anti-AIDS message
By Vaibhav Varma, Channel NewsAsia's India correspondent
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/177183/1/.html
Using Bollywood movies to fight the battle against HIV-AIDS - that's what the Indian government and the country's Catholic Church are doing to try and reach a wider section of the population.
The title of the Hindi movie 'Aisa Kyun Hota Hai' means 'Why does this happen?' in English.
It looks at how love, loyalty and commitment are fast fading among younger Indians, especially those living in cities.
The film's main message - that strong family backing/support is needed to help stop the spread of HIV-AIDS across India.
What's unique about 'Aisa Kyun Hota Hai' is that it's the first full-length film to be produced by the Roman Catholic Church in India.
Said Father Dominique Emanuel, Bishop, Archdiocese of Delhi: "Right now there are several needs of society and the church thinks that Hollywood or Bollywood or Tollywood - whatever you like to call it - is the one medium which reaches the masses. Without having to tell anyone to come and listen to your message, they are drawn there."
First-time director Ajay Kanchan says the key challenge is making movies with a strong social message that still appeal to the audience, especially young people.
Ajay Kanchan, director of 'Aisa Kyun Hota Hai', said: "India in the next 50 years or 20 years is going to be very different from the India in the last 100 years and the outcome will largely depend on how the younger generation is going to respond to the twin challenge of communal polarisation and HIV-AIDS."
'Phir Milenge' or 'We'll Meet Again' is another mainstream film with a strong social message - a warning that the AIDS spectre looms large over the country.
Central to the movie's theme is society's lack of acceptance of HIV-infected patients.
Its commercial success has prompted a wave of similar works.
India has 5.1 million AIDS victims, the second highest in the world.
And, the battle only threatens to grow larger.
Now that Bollywood has stepped in to lend a hand, HIV-AIDS awareness and education may well reach new heights. - CNA/ir
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1 comment:
hmm..interesting. Not all religion is dogmatic, and bollywood movies have always tended to be moralistic and traditional in the family values--that isn't particularly a Christian value. Except now, it has thrown in HIV/AIDS into the mix. It's sort of like that movie, "Kya Kehna" (or something) about an out-of-wedlock Preity Zeinta *gasp*..it was plugged as a "never-before-seen-in-bollywood" kind of a movie. But of course, it was total bollywoood masala. I definitely don't have a problem with it coming from a religious institution for the sake of that fact.
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