Nudges And Narratives

The debate surrounding Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati brings India a complex network of portraits within a cultural world-system.

- Makarand R Paranjape

IN THE LAST few weeks, the roils over Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati have reached a critical crescendo. Though few have seen exactly what it contains, the film’s release has already been delayed owing to controversies it has generated. After the censor board’s official verdict, it may face further cuts or strictures, running into further obstacles.

Once released, and its exact contents are known, people may continue to react to it or, more optimistically, give it their qualified approval. Perhaps, it may not, after all, be all that offensive to our notions of history. Whatever the outcome — ban, boycott, or appreciation, what will be reconfirmed, is the close causal relationship between capital and culture. We will once again see that a cultural world-system exists, important features of which are competing and contradictory narratives, each assiduously promoted and marketed. That these narratives also generate political capital and consequences should be equally obvious.

In the earlier two parts of this series, we have seen how forces of capital not only penetrate even the most insulated or remote parts of our culture, but create new patterns of behaviour, supplanting older value systems with habits of thought and consumption. It is the market that dominates culture; no aspect of culture seems to escape its impact. Music, dance, theatre, cinema, art, and literature — all seem to be under its sway and influence. The bottom line is clear — that something exists culturally, albeit humbly, is not enough. If you cannot capitalise, monetise, and market it, then it is of little use. This is the current trend in India. Where does that leave us?

CULTURAL CAPITAL