Padmaavat finishes court run
Last week’s unprecedented judicial rebellion in the Supreme Court raised some issues that pertain to the very core of India’s constitutional structure—especially a credible separation of powers between the various organs of the state.
That’s something that imparts stability and neutrality to the whole edifice. But in an oblique way, perhaps it came at a propitious time for settling another question that colours the very fibre of democracy: freedom of expression. The days following the press conference by four senior judges were filled with dire prophecies from wannabe Cassandras about the viability of the Indian system. An appropriate juncture, then, for the Lordships to restore a sense of balance by weighing in on the side of good old-fashioned liberal values.
Indeed, after all the dark hints about bench-shopping and throttling of democracy itself, one may be pardoned for visualising the judges as fairly jumping at the opportunity offered by Padmaavat. A Bollywood extravaganza of dubious historicity and aesthetics that may fit better on fashion pages than in the annals of cinema is an ill-deserving candidate on which to hang the topic of freedom of speech and artistic expression. But this was always going to be more about the legal precedent—and the highest judicial voices of the land have upheld the right thing.
It’s up to the film director to try and impress audiences now. And for state governments to wonder whether to play more politics (poll-bound Rajasthan, especially, seems to be wavering) or simply ensure rule of law. As for the Lordships, they have put their vote in the right box: the state’s capacity to harmonise the various divergences that must exist in every society must not be demonstrated by pandering to the basest instincts among them. Short-term caste calculations in Rajasthan (and elsewhere) must bow to the greater sanity of a nation. The Karni Sena would do better to cultivate the excellent, non-martial, artistic side of Rajput history—and perhaps produce a bard worthy of comparison with Jayasi, from within its ranks.