9/11 and Bollywood:
Representation of the Terrorist Attacks in Some Selected Movies
Dr.
Anwesa Chattopadhyay
Assistant Professor
of English
Directorate of Open
and Distance Learning
University of
Kalyani
Kalyani, Nadia
West Bengal
Abstract: The terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001, created a stir in the spatio-temporal milieu and
incited responses from diverse perspectives - socio-economic, political,
cultural, and literary. After an initial phase of silence, owing to the
perpetual disbelief, the event has generated a renewed perspective towards the
world and witnessed the emergence of an entire field of writing, which deals
with its representation in literary works (both fiction and non-fiction alike)
and media. Literary works on Islamophobia focus mostly on the “stereotyping of
Muslims as terrorists and how this puts the rights and liberties of all Muslims
into jeopardy” (Elman147). A considerable number of works emphasize the
negative consequences of this tragedy in the form of violence against Muslims
in the form of physical assaults, harassment and prejudices, ostracism and
exclusion of Muslims from political, social and economic affairs, and unjust
discrimination in the employment sector (Elman147). In recent times,
scholars and thinkers have pointed out how “the negative perceptions and
widespread prejudice against Islam” resulted in the “dehumanization” and
“demonization” of Muslims with the sharp rise of hate crimes directed against
Muslims (and those perceived to be Muslims) in the aftermath of the September
11 terrorist attacks. This paper aims to focus on the representation of the
9/11 terrorist attacks in some selected Bollywood movies like Yun Hota toh Kya Hota, New York and My Name is Khan.
Keywords: Terrorist attacks, Islamophobia,
Bollywood, Crisis, Trauma.
Introduction:
In his
2003 book entitled Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary
World, Carl W. Ernst stated, “It is safe to say that no religion has such a
negative image in Western eyes as Islam” (xvii). The
last few decades have witnessed a considerable amount of debate regarding Islam
and the ideology it promotes. The series of atrocities such as the
Israel-Palestine conflict of 1967, the Iranian Revolution of 1989, the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan (followed by a prolonged era of civil strife and the
Taliban regime), the Gulf War, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have put the
question of Islamic faith to the forefront. As the critics observe, there has
indeed been “an exponential growth in the anti-Islam discourse” in recent
decades that represents Islam as a “violent, corrupt, deceitful, tyrannical and
perverse religion” (Gada 37). With its
origin in the tenth and eleventh centuries, at the time of the Crusades, these
sets of prejudice and hatred towards Islam became a pervasive force in the
latter decades of the twentieth century, as Europe or the West attempted to
re-define the East or the Orient in its own way. However, this
Islamophobic attitude intensified in the minds of general European and American
citizens and became a prominent force in the latter decades of the twentieth
century. From 1980 onwards, as observed by Kambiz Ghanea Bassiri (2012), the
diverse group of people who followed Islam in Western Europe, the United
States, and Canada, came to be categorized primarily by their religion rather
than by their varying races, ethnicities, nationalities, class, and status as
immigrants or colonials (170). In his essay “Defining and Researching
Islamophobia” (2012), Erik Bleich states that “Islamophobia was originally
developed as a concept in the late 1990s by political activists to draw
attention to rhetoric and actions directed at Islam and Muslims in Western
liberal Democracies” (179). Over the course of years, the term has evolved from
a political concept to an analytical one. In the present era, it is used to
identify the history, presence, dimensions, intensity, causes, and consequences
of anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim sentiments. Therefore, all these arguments and
observations point out the fact that “Islamophobia is exclusively about fear
(or dread) directed at either Islam or Muslims” (180). This has resulted in a
certain kind of superstition in the human mind that Muslims are the objects of
threat, doubt, fear, aversion, hostility, and disgust.
Background of the
Study:
The attacks launched on the Twin
Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday morning of September
11, 2001, besides bringing about significant transformation in the
socio-economic and geographical milieu, created a significant impact on the
psychological health of the citizens. The inherent mistrust that regulated
human relationships made the Muslim immigrants vulnerable to circumstances,
thereby heightening their sense of alienation and insecurity in the ‘New
World’. The phenomenal rise of anti-Islamic sentiments resulted in an acute
intensification of the crisis that constituted an intrinsic part of the
diasporic immigrant experience.
The incident of the terrorist attacks
of September 11, 2001, was instrumental in altering the lives of the people
living in the United States. It has resulted not only in the emergence of a
renewed perspective on the world but also in the emergence of an entire field
that deals with the representation of the event in both literature and media.
After an initial phase of silence, owing to the perpetual disbelief, the event
has generated a renewed perspective towards the world and witnessed the
emergence of an entire field of writing, which deals with its representation in
literary works (both fiction and non-fiction alike) and media. Writers like Don
DeLillo, Claire Messud, Amy Waldman, Art Spiegelman, and Jonathan Safran Foer
have dealt with the representation of 9/11 in fiction which includes its
multifarious impacts on the people of the United States.
Analysis of Some Selected Films:
The incident of 9/11 has led to the making of
films on the terrorist attack and its effects on general people. The movie United 93 (2006) is based on the failed
attempt of the hijackers to crash the aircraft into the Capitol Building. “Of
the four aircraft hijacked that day, United 93 was the only one that did not
reach its target. It crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. No
one survived”. Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, United 93 is
“Dedicated to the memory of all those who lost their lives on September 11,
2001”.
The
issues regarding the alienation, otherization and victimization of the Muslims
in America have been represented in Indian Bollywood movies like Yun Hota
Toh Kya Hota, New York and My Name is Khan. Naseeruddin Shah’s directorial
venture Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota (translated as What If, released in
2006), interweaves the stories of four Indians on their way to the United
States whose lives get entangled with the 9/11 attacks. The major characters of
the movie include Rajubhai Patel (enacted by Paresh Rawal), Salim Rajabali
(enacted by Irrfan Khan), Tilottama Das-Punj (played by Konkona Sen Sharma) and
Rahul Bhide (enacted by Ankur Khanna). Unfortunately, all of them, except
Tilottama, lose their lives the next day as the aircraft (which carried them)
is hijacked by Al Qaeda and crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade
Center. The movie ends with the visuals of the burning towers, with a homage to
“all those unknown who lost their lives that day.”
The
2009 movie New York, directed by Kabir Khan, presents the lives of three
friends –Sameer Shaikh, Maya and Omar Aijaz – before and after 9/11. In the
year 1999,an Indian studentnamed Omar (enacted by Neil Nitin Mukesh) migrates
to America to pursue his Master'sat New York State University,where he meets
Sameer (better known as “Sam” in the movie, enacted by John Abraham) and Maya
(enacted by Katrina Kaif), both of whom are Indian diasporas in the United
States. However, their carefree,flamboyant lives alter after the planes crashed
into the Twin Towers. After 9/11, Sam becomes a terrorist suspect because of
his Muslim identity. He is detained by the FBI and placed into a prison cell
for nine months, where he endures every kind of brutal torture. Due to the lack
of evidence, Sam is released, but he cannot erase the memory of the traumatic
experiences in the prison cell. He fails to acquire a respectable job because
of the fact that he has been detained by the FBI under suspicion of terrorism.
The experiences of torture and the feelings of humiliation of being an outsider
in the country, which he has always felt to be his home,make him frustrated and
depressed, even prompting him to take revenge for the injustices. He organizes
a group of Muslim men (from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh) who
have endured a similar kind of torture. Grouped together, they start operating
as sleeper cells and plan to launch an attack on America. However, Sam becomes
unsuccessful in his mission as the FBI reaches the spot. Both Sam and his wife
Maya die in the encounter and leave their child under Omar’s care.
Directed
by Karan Johar, My Name Is Khan(2010)
narrates the experiences of an Indian Muslim immigrant named Rizvan Khan
(enacted by Shah Rukh Khan), an autistic patient suffering from Asperger’s
Syndrome, who migrates to the United Statesto build his career and become
successful in life. Eventually, he settles in the host country and marries a
hairstylist named Mandira (enacted by Kajol), a Hindu woman, a divorcee and a
single mother with a six-year-old son, Sameer. However, their
relationshipalters when the Twin Towers were hit by the hijacked aircraft.
Rizvan states that “Generally we divide the world-historical time into two
phases, B.C. and A.D. But now, the third phase has come into existence – 9/11”.
Rizvan becomes a victim of suspicion and a hateful stare as he utters his
prayer to Allah, asking for
peace for those who have lost their lives in the tragedy. His brother’s wife
experiences a humiliating incident, where she is pushed and her hijab taken off by a stranger who
tells her, “Get out of my country”. Sameer becomes alienated from his school
friends as the teacher tells in class, “Of all the world’s religions, Islam is
the most violent and aggressive. It encourages killing or jihad as they call it, in the name of God.” Later, Sam is murdered
by some of his schoolmates because of his identity as the son of a Muslim
father. To prove his innocence and to show that he has no connection with
Islamic extremists, Rizvan sets off on his journey from San Francisco to New
York by road since he fails to catch his flight because of prolonged
interrogation at the airport as he is suspected of being a terrorist. After
months of suffering and turmoil, when Rizvan meets the President at a college campus
in Los Angeles, he is arrested on the suspicion that he is a terrorist. He is
placed in a cell where he has to endure every form of torture, both physical
and psychological, until he is released as the news of his victimization is
telecast in the media. After a long struggle and trial, the murderers of Sam
are arrested. In the end, Rizvan and Mandira are reunited and get the chance to
meet the newly elected, first coloured President of the country in Wilhelmina,
Georgia.
Conclusion:
In his book National Trauma and Collective Memory (1998), Arthur Neil has
argued that National traumas have been created by “individual and collective
reactions to a volcano-like event that shook the foundation of the social
world”. (ix) The incident of September 11, 2001 was such a “volcano-like” event
that shook the core of America’s heart and traumatized the citizens, who,
having no idea regarding the process of overcoming the shock and grief,
directed their rage against the immigrants, especially those who were Muslims.
Every Muslim immigrant was suspected of involvement with the Al Qaeda
organization that launched the attack, and thus a number of innocent Muslims
became victims of America’s wrath. This factor heightened the alienation of the
Muslims in America, and by extension, all around the globe. The issues of
otherization and victimization of the Muslims have been dealt with by
manywriters, critics and filmmakers. This paper has focused on some selected
Bollywood movies that were made on the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While reflecting
on the issue of Islamophobia that was rampant in the United States after 9/11,
it shows the impact of the tragedy on the Muslims who have lived through the
terrorist attacks.
Works Cited
Bassiri, Kambiz Ghanea.
“Writing Histories of Western Muslims.” Review of Middle East Studies,
vol. 46, no. 2, 2012, pp. 170-79. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/41940894.
Bleich, Erik. “Defining and Researching Islamophobia.”
Review of Middle East Studies, vol. 46, no. 2, 2012, pp.180-189. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41940895.
Elman, Miriam F.
“Islamophobia.” Israel Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, Summer 2019, pp.
144-56. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/720057.
Ernst, Carl W. Following
Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. University of North
Carolina Press, 2003.
Gada, Mohammad Yaseen.
“Islamophobia and Its Historical Roots: Content, Context, and Consequences.” Hamdard
Islamicus, vol. 40, no. 2, 2017, pp. 35-59, hamdardislamicus.com.pk/index.php/hi/article/view/149.
My Name Is Khan. Directed by Karan Johar,
performances by Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Dharma
Productions, Red Chillies Entertainment, and Image Nation Abu Dhabi, 2010.
Neal, Arthur G. National
Trauma and Collective Memory: Major Events in the American Century. M.E.
Sharpe, 1998.
New York. Directed by Kabir Khan, performances
by John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, and Irrfan Khan, Yash Raj
Films, 2009.
United 93. Directed by Paul Greengrass,
performances by Christian Clemenson and Cheyenne Jackson, StudioCanal, Working
Title Films, and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, 2006.
Yun Hota To Kya Hota. Directed by Naseeruddin Shah,
performances by Paresh Rawal, Irrfan Khan, Saroj Khan, Ratna Pathak Shah,
Konkona Sen Sharma, Jimmy Sheirgill, Ayesha Takia, and Ankur Khanna, Times
Music, 2006.