'Aisa Kyon Hota Hai is entertainment with a message'

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'Aisa Kyon Hota Hai is entertainment with a message'

By Vishal Arora | Tuesday, 07 February , 2006, 11:33

Aisa Kyon Hota Hai? is a purely Bollywood film thought out,

conceived and executed by a Catholic priest. For the first time in

the history, the Catholic Church in India has joined hands with

Bollywood to make a feature film.

The film, the brainchild of Dr Dominic Emmanuel SVD and presented by

Bollywood film-maker Mahesh Bhatt, highlights the role of love,

loyalty and commitment in relationships.

Directed by former UNICEF officer Ajay Kanchan, the film carries a

message on two crucial issues facing the country: HIV/AIDS and

communalism. The film will hit the cinema halls on February 17.

Set in the college campus, the story revolves around a single mother

Kiran (Rati Agnihotri) and her son Raj (Aryan Vaid). Though Kiran

brings up Raj with a lot of affection, he grows up with no respect

for emotional relationships. It's not love, but lust that is the

reality of his life. Every now and then he is also haunted by the

thought that he is an illegitimate child. He wants to achieve

success and fame so that he can gain legitimacy and get people to

respect his mother.

Sify.com spoke to Emmanuel, national president of the Signis India

(Catholic Association for Radio, Television & Cinema) and spokesman

for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, on the Church joining hands with

Bollywood.

Emmanuel holds a PhD in communication from the UK. Currently he

hosts a weekly television programme called the Voice of

Christianity, which is aired on Jain TV every Sunday. He has also

made two tele-films that were aired on Doordarshan and Zee TV.

Excerpts:

How did you get the idea of making a Bollywood film?

The original idea was to make a tele-serial on inter-religious

harmony, which still remains the main theme of the film. I have been

writing on the theme, and recently finished a series of books on

value education for school children where the idea is emphasised. I

have also broadcast on radio on this theme earlier. But since there

were no takers for such a TV serial, we thought of making a film. I

must, however, hasten to add that at that time I never thought that

the film would take such a shape and turn out to be an all out

Bollywood film.

Can we call your endeavor an " unholy alliance for a holy purpose " ?

I don't think that it has anything to do with being " unholy " . It is

all about using a medium, which is not only the most popular in

India, but also available to everyone. The question is how one uses

the medium. Any medium can be used for a good purpose or a bad one.

A knife in the hands of a doctor can remove a tumour and in the

hands of an assailant can kill someone. It depends on who uses the

medium and for what purpose.

Why did you choose issues like HIV/AIDS and communalism out the

numerous issues facing our country?

I have been working on inter-religious harmony and understanding it

for the past 25 years. I did two weekly radio talks on Radio Veritas

Asia for five years, from 1988 to1993. I then did a Ph D from London

on communication as dialogue. So inter-religious harmony, due to the

lack of which communalism breaks out, was the most natural of

choices. And since the curse of HIV/AIDS is growing everyday,

threatening to wipe out all the progress the country is making, and

taking the lives of so many, especially the young ones, it was

important to include it as well.

Do you think issues like HIV/AIDS and communalism will sell in our

country?

Our purpose in making the film is not to make profit. But it has

five songs and all the Bollywood ingredients of entertainment,

including a mild item number with wonderful music, which was

released by Times Music on January 2. If we can combine education

with entertainment and call it edutainment, that would be a great

achievement. And when you go to see the film, you will find out that

we have hit on a very successful formula.

What is the USP of your film?

Entertainment with a message. Enhancing the risk perception of young

people about their vulnerability, and encouraging them to delay

their sexual debut; safe sexual practices and stress on formation of

long-term loyal and faithful relationships with their partners. And

becoming aware of the prejudices against people of other religions,

which give rise to communal violence and bloodshed.

How is the Catholic community in India responding to this idea of

joining hands with Bollywood?

The Catholic Community as well as other Christian groups seem to be

quite excited about this project. I have received many phone calls

and emails encouraging me. Numerous of them have promised me that

they would go and watch the film.

Who funded the film, the Catholic Church?

The money for the production of the film has come from voluntary

organisations to Chetanalaya, the social service wing of the Delhi

Catholic Archdiocese. Any profit will be pumped back into

Chetanalaya for its social services. The film has cost more than Rs

1.5 crore to make.

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