We
have all grown up in an environment where we are taught that the hero is always
right and the villain is always wrong. An evidence of this theory is our movies
portraying the good man as a protagonist and the bad man as the antagonist. Of
course in recent times we have seen a slight change where the bad guys are
playing lead characters in our cinema but this portrayal is still far from
majority. Have we ever thought why this trend? Is it quintessential to prove
somebody is good by showing the other in bad light? Some may argue what is
wrong with this theory, you’re absolutely right; my theory may not necessarily
be correct but it most definitely is not baseless.
What
steered my thoughts finds its base way back in mythology. Being somebody who
has a keen interest on the subject; I have always tried to look for more
knowledge and wanted to explore stories that are often not told. We burn
effigies of Ravan and worship Ram but what was so wrong with that man?
He had his flaws, nobody is perfect. Born in an era which was near perfect (Treta Yug), he was definitely a
mismatch. Do not mistake me to be one of those radical thought-provoking
females who would never find the good in Ram,
NO, I am not one of the pseudo feminist. I have always believed that nobody
knows if mythology is real and that is not my place to judge but one must never
stop themselves from learning from whichever means available. For convenience
of all, let’s consider Ramayan and Mahabharat as fiction tales written for
a purpose to teach.
With
this background, getting back to my theory. We have always considered Arjun as
the hero, the savior and ace warrior. To prove that Arjun was the best, we often do injustice to another lesser known
character; Karn. This drove my
inquisitive mind to read about this unsung hero. While I was at this uphill
task, I realized that to make Karn
the protagonist of their tale, story-tellers tried finding flaws in Arjun’s character. Because the Mahabharat cannot be re-written (We live
in a country where anything said; personal or professional has a counter
response to it and there will always be somebody whose ‘sentiments’ you hurt), Arjun could not be portrayed as ‘wrong’
but the elements of trying to make him the antagonist still persisted in the
stories of Karn. Why so? Couldn’t the two characters co-exist? Can’t I
have two heroes with different set of aesthetics I like? I can always pick up
what is right of either of their characters and learn from both of their
culpabilities. Why doesn’t my society give me the liberty to decide for myself who is my hero?
Yes,
I am essentially challenging our bases of story-telling. After all, all
stories, fiction or non-fiction, classics or masala movies are based on the
simple thread of protagonist and antagonism. The point I am trying to put
forward is simple. I do not expect too much from commercial cinema apart from
mere entertainment but I principally want to change the way we approach these tales.
Going by the assumption that they were written to teach, would my learning
impact be any less from the great Mahabarat
if I was shown two sides of the story rather than being brutal towards a
particular character. Maybe yes, I wouldn’t love Arjun if I didn’t hate Karn
or Duryodhan. So does my inability to
see the other side prove that the other side does not exist? Stories written to
show us either side are an evidence to our narrow-minded thinking. I am talking
about expanding this very thought process. It is not necessary for you to agree
with me, changing is far-fetched. All I am asking is to put aside what you
already know and give it a thought. It did take some time for me to do too.
While I read, heard and saw tales with Karn
as the ‘protagonist’; my typical Indian brain tuned me to dislike it. The
thought of Arjun being treated with
lesser importance was disturbing my head. Later did I realize that the fault
lies not in me but it lies in the way I was told the story. Thankfully, I have
parents who never passed judgements, so my childhood didn’t really consist of
my father or mother’s (my sister was least interested) stories with tall
praises for Ram or Krishna or Arjun or Karn, nor did it
consists of hatred for Ravan or Duryodhan. Instead, what I received was
a gift of books and 49 CDs of the Mahabharat.
Which we religiously followed, not because we are religious people but because
they wanted me to have an eye of my own and not the story-teller.
So,
my readers, stories are not just about knowing what the author or teller is
telling you. It is about knowing and discovering what lies beyond it. Don’t let
the writer (even me) tell you what you must follow. Don’t obsess over the hero
because he’s the protagonist, obsess because he’s your hero. Don’t hate the villain because he’s the antagonist,
learn because he made mistakes for you to not repeat. So the question I ask and
want you to ponder upon is, "Can I choose my hero?"
