It has happened to M.S. Dhoni again. No, not the helicopter shot, which I hope will be played many times during the on-going ICC Champions Trophy 2013.
Almost a month back, a case was filed in a Bangalore court, accusing M.S. Dhoni of hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindus for being depicted as Lord Vishnu - with 8 sponsored products in eight hands. That case was filed by one enlightened Jayakumar Hiremath.
Today news is another case has been filed in an Anantapur, AP court citing the same. That M.S. Dhoni has hurt the religious feelings of another enlightened Yerraguntla Shyam Sundar and that of all Hindus.
Both the cases relate to the same morphed picture of M.S. Dhoni published in Business Today (14 April 2013).
First of course, is the question of how can M.S. Dhoni be accused of hurting anyone’s sentiments for a morphed picture. Claiming that M.S. Dhoni has hurt religious sentiments for a morphed picture of him published by a magazine, is atrocious. As atrocious as Mamata Banerjee’s claims of defamation by a cartoon.
Second is the issue of depiction and hurt feelings. There is no doubt that it is offensive for any politician to depict himself as saintly figure, leave alone a God. To be truthful, it will certainly offend my feelings if a politician depicts himself even as Robin Hood, the King of Thieves.
:-P
Third, I have yet to come across a God with 8 hands. We usually have Gods with 2 or 4 hands. Sixed armed Gods aren’t rare, but 8 armed ones are. Goddess Gayathri is always depicted with 10 hands and Lord Shanmuga with 12 hands. A sixteen armed Nataraja is mystic and alluring. But I know of only one Goddess with eight arms - Goddess Durga. Certainly that picture of Dhoni isn’t Durga!
:-?
Sarcasm apart, what is so offensive if M.S. Dhoni or anyone else is depicted as a God - Hindu or otherwise? Or as Robin Hood or Red Riding Hood for that matter.
Haven’t Gods (especially Hindu Gods and Goddesses) been depicted on screen from the time movies came to India? Heck! The first full length Indian feature film was Raja Harishchandra, which featured Gods.
To go further, before the time of cinemas, haven’t there been dramas depicting Ram, Shiva, or Hanuman on stage? For God’s sake, isn’t acting out the twin epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana and other minor stories a folk dance tradition in any part of India?
Do we for a moment take offence that a dirty, unwashed, foul of breathe and foot guy we shied away from yesterday morning, is acting out the part of Shiva or Ram tonight, at a temple folk dance? Do we worry the same actor will be as wile in his cleanliness come tomorrow morning?
One political leader N.T. Rama Rao, incidentally former CM of the state to which the enlightened Yerraguntla Shyam Sundar belongs, was actually venerated during his lifetime as Lord Krishna (or Vishnu) for his portrayal in various movies.
:-D
I guess a lot of people in India, even officers of the Judiciary, have a lot of free time in hand to take up frivolous issues. If that’s true, here are a few hobbies or pastime to engage themselves:
Almost a month back, a case was filed in a Bangalore court, accusing M.S. Dhoni of hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindus for being depicted as Lord Vishnu - with 8 sponsored products in eight hands. That case was filed by one enlightened Jayakumar Hiremath.
Today news is another case has been filed in an Anantapur, AP court citing the same. That M.S. Dhoni has hurt the religious feelings of another enlightened Yerraguntla Shyam Sundar and that of all Hindus.
Both the cases relate to the same morphed picture of M.S. Dhoni published in Business Today (14 April 2013).
First of course, is the question of how can M.S. Dhoni be accused of hurting anyone’s sentiments for a morphed picture. Claiming that M.S. Dhoni has hurt religious sentiments for a morphed picture of him published by a magazine, is atrocious. As atrocious as Mamata Banerjee’s claims of defamation by a cartoon.
Second is the issue of depiction and hurt feelings. There is no doubt that it is offensive for any politician to depict himself as saintly figure, leave alone a God. To be truthful, it will certainly offend my feelings if a politician depicts himself even as Robin Hood, the King of Thieves.
:-P
Third, I have yet to come across a God with 8 hands. We usually have Gods with 2 or 4 hands. Sixed armed Gods aren’t rare, but 8 armed ones are. Goddess Gayathri is always depicted with 10 hands and Lord Shanmuga with 12 hands. A sixteen armed Nataraja is mystic and alluring. But I know of only one Goddess with eight arms - Goddess Durga. Certainly that picture of Dhoni isn’t Durga!
:-?
Sarcasm apart, what is so offensive if M.S. Dhoni or anyone else is depicted as a God - Hindu or otherwise? Or as Robin Hood or Red Riding Hood for that matter.
Haven’t Gods (especially Hindu Gods and Goddesses) been depicted on screen from the time movies came to India? Heck! The first full length Indian feature film was Raja Harishchandra, which featured Gods.
To go further, before the time of cinemas, haven’t there been dramas depicting Ram, Shiva, or Hanuman on stage? For God’s sake, isn’t acting out the twin epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana and other minor stories a folk dance tradition in any part of India?
Do we for a moment take offence that a dirty, unwashed, foul of breathe and foot guy we shied away from yesterday morning, is acting out the part of Shiva or Ram tonight, at a temple folk dance? Do we worry the same actor will be as wile in his cleanliness come tomorrow morning?
One political leader N.T. Rama Rao, incidentally former CM of the state to which the enlightened Yerraguntla Shyam Sundar belongs, was actually venerated during his lifetime as Lord Krishna (or Vishnu) for his portrayal in various movies.
:-D
I guess a lot of people in India, even officers of the Judiciary, have a lot of free time in hand to take up frivolous issues. If that’s true, here are a few hobbies or pastime to engage themselves:
- learn to draw cartoons;
- draw a cartoon involving a litigant, a judge and a buffoon;
- learn Photoshop;
- morph a picture of cat into dog;
- learn to play helicopter shot;
- watch re-runs of ICC World Cup 2011;
- think up a new AirCel ad for M.S. Dhoni.
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