From
to
The changing roles of
Muslims in film
Javed Mohammed
Writer-Producer
Writer-
k2film@live.com
Muslims and Media Part 2
Changing the world one story at a time Copyright 2008

Once upon a time
in a land called Hollywood, they
made dreams come true.

Or depending on your point of
view
brought nightmares

There were heroes

And their were villains
Dracula

The Villains have varied over
time: Indians

Nazis

Japanese

Sometimes Muslim villains
The Shiekh
Rudolph Valentino
1921

Generally Muslims were
invisible in the early days

As were Muslim heroes

But the media was still mighty
influential
“The media's the most powerful
entity on earth. They have the
power to make the innocent
guilty and to make the guilty
innocent, and that's power.
Because they control the minds
of the masses.”

Let’s fast forward

In the 80s & 90s films like
these were the norm:
Genre: Muslim
Drama,
Kidnapping, True
Story, Betrayal,
Tear Jerker,
Suspense, Escape,
Doctor, Spy,
Hostage, Political
Film used for diversity training and understanding

Not without my daughter:
Tagline: “In
1984, Betty
Mahmoody's
husband took
his wife and
daughter to
meet his family
in Iran.”
Film used for diversity training and understanding

Not without my daughter:
Tagline: “He
swore they
would be safe.”
Film used for diversity training and understanding

Not without my daughter:
Tagline: “They
would be free to
leave.”
Film used for diversity training and understanding

Not without my daughter:
Tagline: “He
lied.”

You won’t believe this but…
This film was
used for
diversity
training and
understanding
of Muslim
culture

This was followed by Shoot
em ups
1987

Billionaires, bombers, and
belly dancers
The Delta Force

Stereotypes of Arabs and
Muslims
\"Arab (read
Muslim) culture
has been the
most
misunderstood
and supplied
with the worst
stereotypes\":
Scott J. Simon

Fast forward to Present

It’s not all bad
There are
positive
changes
taking place.

Azeem helps Robin Hood
and fights
the evil
doers
eventually
saving his
life.
.

Courageous
An Arab
traveler helps a
group of
Scandinavian
adventurers in a
battle with a
tribe of
cannibalistic
raiders.

More
good
stuff

Saladin and the Muslims
Thoughtful,
compassionate,
respectful,
brave and
human leader.

So there is positive change
taking place in Hollywood

I get the picture, what about

In Bollywood the story is
similar but also different
Muslims have
had a small
presence in
Hindi film since
the early days
Dilip Kumar (real name Yusuf Khan)
one of the top 3 actors
of his time 1950s-60s

There have been many
Muslim Bollywood heroines
Waheeda Rahman
Madhubala
Mumtaz

Blockbuster director
Directed by (Mehboob) and lead star a Muslim (Nargis)

To one of the greatest Indian
Epic films Mughal-e-Azam:
Directed by (K. Asif) and lead staring couple
Muslims (Dilip Kumar and Madhubala)

Fast forward to today: Some of
the lead male stars are the Khans
Shah Rukh Khan
Aamir Khan
Salman Khan

But its not all good!
The heroines are gone,
the Khans are fading,
and there is a strong theme of
nationalism in films.

The Role of minorities has
been stereotyped
Gabbar Singh in Sholay

Muslim character portrayal
has been either timid

Or violent

Or Promiscuous

Story of Indian partition: reduced
to Romance and Rambo
Gadar: A blockbuster where a Sikh hero rescues Muslim damsel during riots, fall in love
And then goes to rescue her from evil Pakistani Muslims.

Bollywood is secular but it still has
its religious motifs in every film

Worship

Marriage

And death

Every culture promotes it’s
History
Beliefs
Heroes
Values
Norms
Attitude

But where is the Muslim
narrative?
Whose telling
your stories,
history, values?

As I said it’s not all bad
We, collectively
are responsible:
It starts with
education
Taking
ownership
Ends with
action.

Spike Lee
“I'm just trying to
tell a good story
and make thought-
provoking,
entertaining films.
I just try and draw
upon the great
culture we have as
a people, from
music, novels, the
streets.”

Mahatma Ghandi said

What change will you make?

Reference
All images are used under “fair use” and
obtained from the public domain. They are
the property of the respective copyright
holders.
Please Note: I started to keep track of sources but it became too
cumbersome.