Marathi Manus v/s Multiplexes

*** Disclaimer: I am not a Shiv Sainik, or a Congress fan. I just do not like the end outcome. ***

In the recent news, we saw how multiplexes refused to air MNIK, and how central government arm-twisted them into airing the shows, much to the chagrin of MNS. With threats of violence, people of the city still braved to see a hindi movie.

All in all, it’s interesting to see not the event, but the actual outcome … who has “won” and who has “lost”

Shiv Sena: Once again written off by everyone as a wannabe. Once again people thinking that the party is unnecessarily resorting to violence. Fighting for the right cause, but for the wrong issue and in the wrong fashion.

MNS: A missed opportunity to come together with the original party. Raj Thackeray could have shown to the people of Mumbai that he stands for the marathi manus and supports the cause. He is clearly fighting for the wrong cause.

Central Government: Having over-ridden the local parties in local matters, now Congress has higher say over MNS and Shiv Sena combined. What should not have been their jurisdiction has been given over to them on a silver platter.

SRK & Karan Johar: They were but a tool for grabbing this opportunity of who really controls the city. I hope they realize that they are not adding any value to the city of Mumbai, and that is what Shiv Sena is against. If you are living in this city, if you are feeding off this city, then please invest in it. Obviously, all this publicity is always good for their ilk.

Multiplexes: With ticket prices touching Rs. 250 onwards, profits soon rise. This almost seems like a win-win situation.

But what about us, the people, the marathi manus?

Marathi Manus: By far the clear loser in this entire muck-up. The one party who stood a chance to represent them has now been effectively silenced – silenced by the people who can afford those tickets. What about the people living in Mumbai who do not have that much expendable income? What about the people who see their homes being taken away from them simply because all the commodities are becoming expensive day by day? The backbone of these people has been broken. Broken by a trivial issue.

24 thoughts on “Marathi Manus v/s Multiplexes”

  1. One fundamental flaw with your argument…..I don’t understand if you are talking for “Marathi Manus” or “Mumbai” or “fairness”. Why don’t we stop being so regional?

    1. Hi Friend,
      I am not being regional. It’s just that the marathi manus definition is so vague. Who is the marathi manus? One who speaks the marathi language does not hold … there has to be a broader definition. In this context, the correct term should have been mumbaikar v/s multiplexes.

  2. Agree to most of it, except for two counts.

    Shiv Sena’s recent ’cause’ is stupid. A IPL team owner expressed dismay over the fact that players from another country could not play for his team. This has nothing to do with his patriotism. And certainly did not deserve such reactions.

    KJ & SRK – while I do not like them or anything, it would be incorrect saying that they are feeding off Mumbai and are not contributing to it. You and I know that every earning and spending individual of society contributes to the economy, in this case it is Mumbai’s, Maharashtra’s and India’s economy. Secondly, their customers are not just in Mumbai – they are all over India, infact all over the world. One way in which we could expect them to contribute more to the city is in supporting causes, working for social good etc. I don’t know if they are doing any of it, but I don’t think any of us have any business of telling them whether they should be or should not be – much less by terrorising.

  3. How about simply common man?

    The term Marathi Manus is laden with a lot of political baggage, all thanks to T family, and is bound to raise many unwanted reactions amongst readers.

  4. All this controversy……… only gave SRK and KJ good mileage…..( a very sick way to think but these people got free publicity)

  5. Hyponos, I dont support the means used for this fight, but I think its idiotic to say “A IPL team owner expressed dismay over the fact that players from another country could not play for his team.” SRK had every right to get Pakistani player in his team, no one stopped him. He (the team) choose to get Bond and spend their cap limit. Same way for other teams. They filled their needs. There was no need for SRK to say it was wrong on the part of other teams to not include pakistani players when he himself did not.

  6. @Hypnos – I agree about the term Marathi Manus. Perhaps I should have used a term as Mumbaikar or common man, which would bring its own set of baggages, but acceptable ones nonetheless.

    @Everyone, I am not taking potshots at people who cannot talk Marathi. I am all for meritocracy in terms of jobs, but if you drive people out of their city by increasing the affordability, then that’s using the mean side of capitalism – hence this communist stand :-)

  7. @Aina

    I am not aware of the details of the case, but as far as I know the IPL authorities have decided not to go with Pakistani players – there are a number of possible reasons – reliability being one of them (what with the political relations between the two countries changing every couple of months, who knows when the visa regulations would get stronger between them and the players would not be able to turn up here, and mind you, terrorists would definitely want that – disruption), and our beloved right-wingers being the other – people who break Indian shops owned by Hindu people just because they’re called Karachi Sweet Shop (owned by Sindhis no less).

    Whatever be the reasons, the reactions were not proportional to what he said. And the reactions were not for the reason you said – they were based purely on emotional jingoism.

  8. I dont think if Shiv Sena indeed represented the cause of ‘Marathi Manoos’ any time and in any way. Saying that the represent the cause of ‘Marathi Mumbaikar’ would be more appropriate. In any case I think SS has completely lost its sting. But Ashok Chavhan too did not earn any credibility by doing what he did to stop the movie from getting released. Add to that, a bomb went off in Pune amidst all the controversy.

    The biggest gainer from this controversy is SRK of course and the biggest loser is the common man, not only a ‘Marathi Manoos’.

  9. @ Amit –
    If IPL authorities had decided not to go with Pakistani players, then why did they let them into the auction? It was the team owner’s decision to not go with them for the reasons mentioned by you. And I stand by my opinion that SRK had no right to say what he did when his team did not draft a single pakistani player.

  10. @mayur ……yes probably the security for reserved for all SRK movie goers………….:)..thanks to our esteemed netas and movie stars…….. wonder what will they do without any security ………like us common man……..

    @prasad. this is far from communism….. although it is anti-capitalist stand……remember all malls and multiplexes are symbols of capitalism…and so are all IG and IB schools coming upand closing or shutting down of all SSC schools………
    (like ticket even basic education would be a matter of affordability )do you know the basic fess structure for nursery or kg at ig or ib??

    @aina ……yes he didnt draft any pakistani player…
    but made a statement……..wonder that was to please whom….(or was it for his movie which would be launched across the border)…??also wonder why the IPL bosses chose to allow auction of pakistani players if they couldnt provide security…..?that was to please whom???

    in other parts of the country people are fighting for seperate state of telanga….
    wonder ……..WOULD HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF….infighting and british policies got india to be a colony of outsiders……WONDER WHO THE OUTSIDERS are this time around……..or our REGIONAL NETAS good enough…

    by the way even ipl wouldnt be allowed to happen in mumbai for aussies….and everyone.

  11. Someone who is not a Marathi or for that matter not even living in the city called Mumbai I can just say one thing.. Everyone likes to make statements ( be it Raj Thackrey or SRK) that can become headline for next day’s front page! Like they say any kind of publicity is good or anything to be in the news is worth it!.

    As part of the aam janta, If I want to watch a movie, i will not care about what a politician out of power or in power says or feels…

    PS: Mumbai doesn’t have any other cinema halls apart from multiplexes… Delhi is better off then we still have theatres where a balcony is only for 80 bucks and popcorn another 20… a good bargain for a ‘common man’

    1. Hey Pallavi, thanks for dropping by the blog :-). Before the onslaught of the multiplexes, Mumbai did have theatres, in fact some of my favourite ones still run town-side of Mumbai.

  12. Nice review. All is not well with our political scene and I am not just talking about Mumbai. Lets hope for the best. Creating awareness about regional issues is good but the parties did go overboard.

  13. @Pallavi: you wouldn’t care about the politician’s statement, and the politician knows it, which is why his goons create terror around the cinema hall, so you wouldn’t go there, because you’ll atleast worry for your own safety. funny business this, indian politics.

    BTW, there are old-style cinema halls in town side of bombay as prasad tells us, and in the city area in Pune (Vasant was showing MNIK, ofcourse with security, which sadly was misplaced in the bigger scheme of things).

    The administration was ready for the “predictable” internal terrorists (who are looking at headlines more than damage), not for the unpredictable external ones (whose purpose is actually to damage). Both, however believe in terrorising people for their own gains.

  14. You know Amit,suprisingly there were dharnas and tamasha outside the Cinema Halls in Delhi when the movie released. But the janta didn’t care. We too went for the movie on the second day. My grandpa freaked out that we girls just don’t care about our security, we are foolish etc etc… now my point is, I can’t sit at home just because some goons will harm us, the harm can happen anywhere, anytime only the situation would vary, if not a protest then a blast or whatever.Till the time there isn’t a curfew, I am not staying back.

    The groups came protested, got themselves clicked,appeared on tv, and moved on, so did we, saw the movie, discussed it and walked back home :)

  15. This is awesome!

    Most non followers of Politics will never come to realise that it was never about MNIK or India-Pak… it was about whats and hows and whos of Politics in MAH and Mumbai…

    Also, it is essential that Marathi Manus, no wait, “all” communities who feel they are being “victimised”… stand up and question the very political parties who claim to be working in their interest…

    Plus, look at the event itself… most multiplexes had thick security… All multiplexes in Ghatkopar (I visited 4) had about 50-60 police personnel!

    Fame was shut down… The owners didn’t want to take any risks..Ishqiya and other movies that were running were not allowed to play too!

    Such utter waste of our resources…such loss of business!

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