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Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology Issn No : 1006-7930
Conflicts and Crises of Journalism and Media in ‘Dil Se’, the
Bollywood Movie.
Author: Bishwa B. Behura, Research Scholar,
Guide – Dr Geetali Tilak
Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune.
Abstract: The current paper aims to study on the role of media and presentation of
crisis communication in movies. Movies play an important role in creating morals,
etiquettes and principles of life. It is an advance version of drama. Film industry is one
of the major media of current era, which focuses on several current issues as the part
of the movie theme. ‘Dil Se,’ is the Bollywood movie, which is screened at the Era
New Horizons Festival and the Helsinki International Film Festival. This film is
honoured as the first Indian film amongst top ten in the United Kingdom. Moreover, it
was a hit in Japan also. The plot of the movie wonders around the media i.e. All India
Radio in which Amarkant Varma(Role Played by Shahrukh Khan) is the hero of
movie. He is working as program executive for All India Radio. The story of ‘Dil Se’
moves around the theme of attraction, infatuation, love, reverence, worship, obsession
and death. This film has two parts as attraction between a character from the heart of
India and a peripheral state & a representation of opposites in the eyes of the law and
society. It is based on the theme of terrorism, patriotism and role of media with current
life. As we all know, media is always a part of conflict and crises in the Indian society,
due to their presentation and communication, the researcher feels a need of study on it.
Hence, current paper is an attempt to focus on the communication crises of media and
journalism and its impact on the life of India, with special reference to the Bollywood
movie ‘Dil Se.’
Keywords: Dil Se, conflict, crises, journalism, All India Radio, media,
communication etc.
Volume XII, Issue II, 2020 Page No: 126Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology Issn No : 1006-7930
Introduction:
Amar, the hero of the movie, Dil Se’ is working as an employee in All India Radio. He
is the representative of journalist of India. ‘Dil Se’ is the path-breaking Bollywood
movie which is written and directed by famous director Mani Ratnam. It is produced
by Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, and Shekhar Kapur. There is conflict of love in this
story as there is one hero and two heroines i.e. Shahrukh Khan, Manisha Koirala and
PreityZinta. Manisha Koirala is leading heroine in the movie while PritiZinta is
featured as supportive actress. The roles and actors of this movie are explained in the
below table:
Sr.No. Character Casting By
01 Amarkant Varma- Media Shahrukh Khan
representative
02 Moina/ Meghna – suspicious Manisha Koirala
charterer or tersest
03 PreetiNair – pliancy of Amer PreityZinta
04 Mita - MitaVasisht
05 Kanval Dev Burman - ArundathiRao
06 Shuklaji Raguveer Yadav
07 Amer ‘s grandmother Zohra Sehgal
08 Taxi driver Jaganraj
09 Terrorist leader Gautam Bora
10 Terrorist SabyasachiChakrabarty
11 Terrorist Aditya shrivastav
12 Terrorist Sanjay mishra
13 Terrorist Anupamshyam
14 Terrorist ShabbirMasani
15 Kim terrorist Kishan Kant
16 Terrorist ManjitBawa
17 Amer’s mother Sheebachaddha
18 CBI investigation officer Piyush Mishra
19 CBI investigation officer Gajraj Rao
20 Young Monia PriyaParulekar
Table 1.1 casting and Characters of the Movie Dil Se
Volume XII, Issue II, 2020 Page No: 127Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology Issn No : 1006-7930
As shown in the above in table 1.1, the casting and characters are connected with All
India Radio- the media Sector of India, terrorists, military, CBI and common life of
North East, Delhi and Kashmir.
The Major Theme of Movie ‘Dil Se’:
The theme of this movie is based on the worst reality of North East Life, North East
politics and the sexual harassment of a girl at early age by military which is the real
part of protection of citizens. The film shows that due to military atrocity and rape in
those areas, a girl has converted into terrorist and even lost the smile of her face. The
major theme of movie wonders with few following factors which are given in the
below image number 1.1
Worship Obession Death
Attraction Love Infatuation Reverence
Image 1.1 The images showing major theme of movie Dil Se
As shown in the above image 1.1, the Bollywood movie has major seven themes as
Attraction, love, infatuation, reverence, worship, obsession and death. This is
somehow a different movie in which the community crises, political crises and crises
created by media are reflected by Mani Ratnam. This film is known by few scholars as
Anti-national film.’ They called this movie as Anti-national film with rising a question
as- how an army officer’s son working as a government employee can fall in love
even with a self-annihilating terrorist girl who is the part of suicide bomber team of
North East.
Volume XII, Issue II, 2020 Page No: 128Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology Issn No : 1006-7930
The Plot of Film ‘Dil Se’:
Amarkant Varma who is the hero of Movie ‘Dil Se’ is working as a program executive
for All India Radio. He dispatched from New Delhi to Assam with the aim to cover
festivities and produce news for All India Radio in the occasion of celebration of a
special program on 50th year of independence of India
Amar’s Love Story Starts at Railway Station: As per his defined goal to reach at
Assam, Amar stops at Haflong train station to catch the Barak Valley Express. During
his journey, he met with a heavily raining night. He feels cold due to heavy rain. As he
is a smoker, he tries to have a smoke but he couldn’t as he does not have a matchbox
with him which he forgot to carry. He saw a person with a shawl sitting at a distance
to whom he asked about a match or lighter. When he went close to the person, he
found a woman who was very attractive. Here the love story of Amar starts. The lady
ignored him initially. After his lots of efforts, she got ready to have a cup of tea with
him. As he came with a cup of tea, he saw her boarding in the next train with three
male passengers and rides off into the distance. Amar’s love for her make him so
crazy that he didn’t give up to follow her, though he is bitten a lot almost to death.
Fortunately, he is saved. His marriage took place with Preeti Nair, a different girl at
Delhi. At the end of Movie, he came to know about the plans of Meghna, to whom he
met in All India Radio Service that she is a terrorist and working as revolutionary
from her side. She was raped by military at the age of twelve. But at the end of movie,
Amar and Meghna both died with bomb blast and saved all Indian Army who were
present in the celebration program of 50th anniversary of independence of India.
Communicating Crises in the Movie ‘Dil Se’: This research study found several
types of communication crises in the Bollywood movie ‘Dil Se’. Few of them are
explained below:
a. Social Crises about Freedom and Development: Amar, the hero of Movie is a
program executive officer at All India Radio. Furthermore, he is the son of an Army
Officer who lost his life in service to the Nation. When he talks with North East
people, we found how they are having faithless approach towards the central
government of India. They replied that who said we got freedom and we are living in
an independent nation. We are yet suffering a lot and living under the fear of terrorists.
This shows the political climate and political crises in the lives of North East people.
Volume XII, Issue II, 2020 Page No: 129Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology Issn No : 1006-7930
They are not having good and faithful feelings towards Indian Government. They get
angry on a program executive officer of All India Radio who asked questions to them
regarding their life as an Indian citizen, living an independent life in free India. He
met tea-garden employees on board at Barak Valley where we found these workers are
also disappointed as they are stating that they had no freedom to disillusioned
liberationist. Moreover, they expressed their harsh feelings with demanding the blood
of Indian Government.
b. Crises in journalism and press about Terrorism: This is the major conflict in the
movie Dil Se. Amar reached to Assam's Barak Valley to cover a special program on
50th year celebration of India’s independence. When he visited there, he wanted to
meet the terrorists located and situated nearby this location. His boss is a lady at
Assam's All India Radio Station. He asked her about her own experience of meeting to
terrorists. He asked her about whether she has any meet with the terrorist groups. Her
answer shows the truth of media and employees of journalism field as they are very
insecure about themselves when they go to find the reality exiting in the society. She
replied as why she should meet the terrorists as she has two daughters and she herself
wanted to keep safe with her family. This conversation between Amar and the
Director of All India radio reveals here the real picture of insecurity and feelings of
fear of life that journalist and employees working in the field of journalism feel about
their professional duties in the time of crises.
c. Crises of Thoughts about the Meaning of Freedom: Meghana, the terrorist girl is
the victim of her own rape at the age of twelve. The team of terrorist in North East
captures such young blood to fight against the government under the title of
revolution. For them, working as a terrorist is not a part of crime. For them, it is the
path of revenge with reference to what happened to them and what they suffered. This
is the perceptional conflict between the meaning of the word freedom and terrorism,
independence and revolution which is found in the movie ‘Dil Se’.
Conclusion:
Thus, in this Bollywood movie Dil Se, through the professional work and love story of
a journalist, the crises of communication in various aspects of personal, social,
political arena are shown by the director. In one side, the personal life of radio
employee, their responsibilities and feelings towards their jobs, young blood and
Volume XII, Issue II, 2020 Page No: 130Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology Issn No : 1006-7930
eagerness to meet terrorists, and in the other side their safety and threat from terrorist
in response to uncomfortable questions shows the crisis of gap between news and
reality. The different meanings of independence, terrorism and revolution presented by
media and perceived by different people shows the crises of reporting and
interpretation. The film also reveals the political crises in Government mechanism at
Central and State level in India. The issues related to corruption are presented as a
crisis of information and transparency. Towards the end of the film, when Amar came
to know that Meghna is a terrorist, he did not report it to the media or to the police,
rather he tried to convince Meghna to not commit the crime. Through this the director
has portrayed the conflict between personal choice and professional commitment.
References:
1. Aftab, Kaleem (October 2002). "Brown: the new black! Bollywood in Britain".
Critical Quarterly. Blackwell Synergy. 44 (3): 88–98. doi:10.1111/1467-8705.00435.
The first Bollywood film to enter the UK top 10, Dil Se / Uyire was nevertheless a
flop in India. Such factors attest to the crucial role of the NRI audience in the
commercial fate of Bollywood produce.
2. Boehmer, Elleke; Morton, Stephen (October 2009). Terror and the postcolonial. John
Wiley and Sons. p. 350. ISBN 978-1-4051-9154-8. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
3. Corliss, Richard (27 October 2010). "Dil Se – 1998". Time. Archived from the
original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
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6. "Dil Se (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes.
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10. Dudrah, Rajinder Kumar (2006). Bollywood: sociology goes to the movies. Sage. p.
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