To Stand or not To Stand to our National Anthem?
In my childhood whenever we went for a movie, we knew we had to stand up when the national anthem would be played at the beginning of the movie, whether or not it made one feel proud, patriotic or emotional. It was a ritual which was religiously followed in 1970s and 1980s at least in Tamilnadu, without any questions asked. All of a sudden, this practice mysteriously went out of practice. The United Kingdom is another country which was a practitioner of playing the anthem of the UK ‘God save the Queen’ after the movie got over in their cinema halls. Until the latter part of the 20th century, the theatre and concert goers were expected to stand while the anthem was played after the conclusion of a show. As this brought about a tendency for movie audiences to rush out while the end credits were played towards the end of the movie. This practice was discontinued in the movie halls of UK. To this day, however the practice of playing the anthem ‘God save the Queen’ continues to exist in UK in some sports events, concerts etc and the audience are expected to stand and honour the Queen.
Supreme Court of India last year ordered that the national anthem should be played in all cinema halls across India before screening of a film, accompanied by national flag on the screen with an aim to create and instill patriotism and nationalism in citizens. Movie is just one type of entertainment. If national anthem should be played and respected prior to screening of movies, it would be better if the same yardstick would apply to every form of entertainment such as music concerts, plays, skits, dance shows, comedy shows, magic shows, literary talks, debates, poetry recitation, sporting activities and many more other forms. The aforesaid decision to play national anthem in cinema halls, stemmed out of the belief of the Honourable judges that the citizens of India don’t really know how to respect and sing the national anthem and therefore need to be taught. They also felt that people should show belongingness to the nation they live in, by respecting and honouring the flag. Two amendments/clarifications later Supreme Court of India has backtracked and decided to put the ball back in Governments court for it to take a call. On July 25, 2017, a single member bench consisting of Justice MV Muralidharan in Madras High Court ruled that all schools should play and sing ‘Vande Mataram’. Later, a division bench of the Madras High Court has set aside the order of a single member bench that mandated playing and singing of ‘Vande Mataram’ in schools and private institutions.
During my last visit to a cinema hall, the national anthem was played before the movie as ordered by the Supreme Court , my friends and I stood up to respect our anthem. To my dismay, I found few not standing up in the entire cinema hall. I therefore believe that patriotism is something which should be nurtured within each Indian and something which cannot be forced on anyone. And this is possible only if one loves his country much in the way, members of a family love and safeguard their homes. Do we love our country in such a manner that we can do something to generate that feeling among the people. Once this feeling is generated, respect and reverence for national anthem need not be ordered and forced it would become inborn and automatic .Besides, patriotism or nationalism may mean different things to different people. Everybody has their own sense of nationalism/patriotism which may not necessarily conform to others. In which case, it does not appear to be a good idea to impose upon people the idea of nationalism especially in a society where social inequalities and social injustice continues to prevail. Is it right for us to expect people to stand up during national anthem when his/her basic needs are not met? Standing up when national anthem is played is one of the ways to show respect to the nation, it is not the only way. Everybody has different ways of showing respect to the nation. Some do it by paying taxes correctly and in time, some others by being law abiding citizens and few by serving the nation in their own unique ways. Compelling people to display patriotism in cinema halls will only result in muffled frustration among them, which may be counterproductive.
It may be a good idea to begin displaying our patriotic credentials, by playing the national anthem before the start of Rajya Sabha, or Lok Sabha or for that matter in the government offices, courts, schools, colleges etc. It’s in such places that we should begin the display of our patriotic fervour first, than in movie halls where reverence to flag is quickly replaced by obscenity, vulgarity and all types of violence, including glorification of terrorism against one’s own country on the screen. Cinema halls therefore may be unbefitting places for instilling nationalism, it may do the country a world of good if the Supreme Court recalls and modifies its original order.
Jayanth Murali is based at Chennai, India. One fine day, he decided to substitute smoking with running. Now an avid runner, he has never looked back since then. He has done a bunch of marathons and half marathons over the years. When he is not working, he is usually running or helping people discover the endorphins of endurance.
Jan 11, 2018 at 3:28 AM /
My belief is National Anthem is sacred and needs to be played at an appropriate place and time. Not where 90% of the movies are not fit for public viewing. Don’t disgrace patriotism and national Anthem with viewers of cheap movies and not standing. What can you expect there.