MOVIE REVIEW (BAJRANGI)

IDENTITY, STEREOTYPE, PREJUDICE, ETHNOCENTRISM

NAME CHRISTIVIVIENA

TABLE OF CONTENT

NO. CONTENT PAGE

1. INTRODUCTION 3-4
i. Synopsis
ii. Movie Background
2. BODY OF CONTENT
i. Identity Development Issue
ii. Social and Cultural Identities
iii. Identity, Stereotype, Prejudice 4-10
iv. Ethnocentrism
v. Bad vs Good Value
3. CONCLUSION 10
4. REFERENCE 11
Movie Synopsis

Pawan is just a simple and honest man who believes in Bajrangi, he is a man that
promised to never lie to anyone in his life. He, who worked hard to collect money to be able to
purchase a house in order to marry his lover, Rasika, one day meet a lost mute little girl who’s
nationality is Pakistan. Pawan thought that the little girl was an Indian girl who lost her parents
in the crowd. His life takes a drastic turn when the little girl started following him around, and
are getting attached to him. Pawan then take the little girl to a police station to leave her there in
case Syahida’s parent will come looking for her. But unfortunately, the police officer doesn’t
want the little girl to be left at the police station considering that the place harbor many bad
people. Not having the heart to just leave her at the police station, Pawan take the Syahida with
him back to the house he is staying at, after leaving his contact number with the police.

Pawan faced another big problem when Rasika’s father found out that Syahida was
actually a kid from Pakistan. Pawan received the pressure to return Syahida back to her
hometown in Pakistan. Pawan first attempt to return Syahida was made by going to the
ambassador office but was backfired when the officer there refused to help if Syahida does not
have any identification document. While they were at the ambassador office, a riot happened
between the Indian officer and the Pakistani’s people. Due to the riot that happen, the
ambassador had to close down for a month and no visa or passport application will be accepted.

Pawan then try another way to send Syahida back to her parent by going to a travel
agency to help make a passport to Pakistan. But the travel agency didn’t make passport for travel
to Pakistan. The agency then offer to help to take the little girl back to Pakistan by using his
connection, but turns out they got tricked and the travel agent sells Syahida to a brothel’s house.
That was when Pawan decided to take Syahida back to her parent by himself. Pawan had ro
snuck into Pakistan and got chased around by the Pakistani’s officer because he was thought to
be a spy for India. Through his hardship of running away from the police, he is able to return
Syahida back to her parent even though the consequence was him gotten locked up in a jail and
beaten up. But at the end, the people of India and Pakistan are able to find a middle ground of
releasing Pawan and let him cross back to his country. The movie had on a touching ending
where Syahida are finally able to use her voice shouting to call out to Pawan, shouting the words
“uncle”.
Movie Background

Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a movie made in 2015 that starred Salman Khan, who is an innocent
and truthful man who are willing to go far to return a little girl back to her family, with Harshaali
malhotra as the little girl. This movie is made in Indian Hindi language (ref) and portrays the
genre of comedy drama that touches the heart of audience. It is directed by Khan, K.V.
Vijayendra Prasad and Parveez Sheikh, and was produced by Salman Khan.

The movie are grossing in the India and wins over 20 awards while they are nominated
for four awards.

BODY OF CONTENT

Culture and communication equals to each other. Communication is needed for the
culture to be passed down to the younger generation. Communication is essential to culture just
as culture is important to communication. How people communicate will depends on what
culture does the individual lived in.

Intercultural is when different culture that had different background, lifestyle, belief and
many more meet. This is the space where many culture could mixed with each other.
Intercultural communication are discussing about on how the communication between different
cultures could affect the lives of the culture. The movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan shows the ultimate
collision of two cultures that are not exactly at peace with each other. Both India and Pakistan
does not favor each other and keeps on seeing each other through the lens of the bitter past they
had with each other.

The characters in the movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan let us watch on how they slowly break
down the mentality and perception they had on the other culture and trying to see the other
culture as they are and not affected by their bitter past.
 1. Identity Development Issue

Identity development issue are a situation an individual have to face when they are thrown
into confusion about who they are and how they represent themselves. It usually happens when
one person got into a situation where they do not entirely belongs and are different. The movie
portrays a great collision between many cultures. Not only does the little girl encounter a new
culture in India, but she also associate with the people who had different belief and lifestyle.
Their tradition and background are also entirely different. This goes both way, Pawan and Rasika
also had their first interaction with a culture that is entirely different from them.

While watching the movie, we could see that there are a few moments where the characters
are confused about their cultural identity because of how they are surrounded by others’ culture.
For example, when Pawan was in Pakistan and he wanted to offer his greetings, he
unconsciously did the greetings for Muslim instead of his own usual greeting of Jai Sri Ram.
Pawan at that time was at Pakistan and he is surrounded by the Muslim people in Pakistan,
therefore his action was influenced at that time. We could label this as a short confusion due to
the frequent communication he had with people from different religion.

Later on in the movie, we could also see Pawan tying his bracelet on a wall; to give his
pray using the way a Muslim does. Even though Pawan was a believer of Hanusham, he prays in
the way of Muslim and this shows how his identity was faced with confusion. Pawan also started
to lost his hesitation in entering the mosque. At the start of the movie, we could see how Pawan
was so hesitant in entering the mosque, to the point that he stops for a while at the door of the
mosque for a while. But later on, he was able to sleep in the mosque.

This is the opposite for Syahida. Syahida was able to stick to her identity even though she
was surrounded with people who are Hindu and pray to the Hanusham. We could see this clearly
when Pawan brought her to the temple to ask for forgiveness to the Hanusham due to her eating
meats, Syahida turn and enter the mosque instead and pray there while wearing Hijab. This is
also could be seen when Syahida keep on rooting for Pakistan in a baseball game even though all
of the other person in the room are rooting for the Indian team. Though at one point, Syahida
started greetings people by putting her hands together in front of her. There is also one scene in
the movie where while they are travelling across Pakistan in search of Syahida’s hometown, they
are encountered with a monkey. Bajrang who is Hanusham believer respect the monkey,
therefore he put his hand together and bow a little. In this scene, we could see that Syahida also
copy what Bajrangi was doing.

2. Social And Cultural Identities

There are a lot of social and cultural identities that collide in this movie. The fact that the
cultures that met in this movie harbor a bad feeling for each other makes it more interesting. This
is due to the fact that most cultures that have negative perception on each other prefer to not
collide at all. But in this movie, despite being with someone whose culture does not have a good
history with each other, they try their best to help each other.

One of the cultures that I found here is a culture that their belief is Muslim religion. The
people in Pakistan belief are Islam in majority and this includes Syahida, Nawab the reporter and
also Syahida’s family. Their cultures wear hijab and clothing that cover up most of their skin.
Just like Syahida’s mother. Their culture also respects the woman and won’t ask for a woman
who wears purda and hijab to open it even when they are looking for Bajrangi. Bajrangi, the
reporter used this as an advantage to their side when they disguise Bajrangi as a woman and
dress him up like the woman in Pakistan. They are able to get away from the police radar
because of this.

We could also see the culture of Hindu where they belief to Hanusham. Their culture is
where they did not eat meat and their daily diet consists of vegetables and bread. The woman in
the Hindu culture also mostly wears Sari as their everyday looks. They also don’t wear hijab like
the Muslim woman. They go to the temple as their place to do their prayer. This could be shown
when Pawan went to the temple to ask for forgiveness from the Hanusham. The Hanusham
culture also respects the monkey as they believe that the God they are worshipping is in the form
of monkey.

We could also see a culture of people who prioritized perfection. Pawan’s father raised
him in a strict manner where he tries to teach Pawan everything and expect him to excel on it.
Unfortunately, Pawan was not good in studying or fighting. He try to train Pawan to become
perfect in what he can do and expect him to be like him considering that he is the head of police
officer in the area.

3. Identity, Stereotypes And Prejudices

This movie highlighted heavily on the cultural differences and it is common that in the mixed
culture, there are some stereotypes and prejudice towards the other culture. Even in the movie,
this problem was taking into attention. Prejudice and stereotype are both an attitude and manner
that someone harbor towards certain culture that they did not take liking in. For stereotypes it is
to expect everyone who come from the same culture to act the same. It isn’t fair considering that
every individual is unique and one culture does not define their whole identity. Prejudice is when
someone make an early assumption about a culture based on a few experience they had gone
through. In this movie, it shows how the characteristic progression as they embark on a journey
to break every stereotypes and prejudice they obtain on certain culture. They are also able to find
their identity and understand themselves better.

When Rasika’s father found out that Syahida is actually a little girl from Pakistan, due to her
cheering when Pakistan team won in the game that night. Rasika’s father become angry and
shout at Bajrangi to return Syahida back to her country as fast as he can or the both of them
cannot stay at his house anymore. But scolding doesn’t mean that he is stereotyping. But then he
mention that he cannot stand the little girl because he remember how the Pakistan people killed
Indian people, that is when he is stereotyping. When he discriminate Syahida because of what
the people who come from the same culture as Syahida, he is being bad and unfair. But looking
at Syahida through the same lens of perception he used on the people who him wronged when in
actuality Syahida had done nothing to prove his point that is him stereotyping Syahida.

This also happen to Bajrangi when he was at the Pakistan in his effort to find Syahida’s
parent. Bajrangi sneak to Pakistan and even though he got permission from the soldier at the
border, it doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t have any document that could validate his
journey to Pakistan. He got caught by the police officer and when they found out that Bajrangi is
an Indian citizen who had neither passport nor visa, they concluded that he is a spy by India.
Bajrangi and Syahida are taken into the police station and got question. At that time, Bajrangi
had to explain many times to the police officers that he is not a spy instead he is there to return
Syahida back to her parents.

Prejudice and stereotyping in my opinion is a wall that is built by human to separate culture
even further from each other. And it’s sad that there are even some people who willingly build
their walls higher and choose to not to try to break free and mingle with other culture. Instead,
they preserve their mind set and prefer to only live with the knowledge of their own culture and
being proud of their own lifestyle. Though it is not wrong, but building a wall will only trap
oneself and limit their knowledge, even more now that our world had various cultures to explore,
learn and more to understand.

4. Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is a situation where one person prioritizes and thought that their culture is
superior to the other. Ethnocentrism does closely associate with racism and discrimination. This
is also one of the messages that I get from the movie. It is deeply touching to see how
ethnocentrism can put a wedge between two cultures when they could have live in peace and
harmony full of respect. It

It is heartbreaking to see the scene where Rasika’s father shows his prominent dislikes to his
Muslim neighbor. The scene was when Pawan just arrived at Dayanand’s house, Rasika’s father,
and he was sitting one table with the family to eat together. Pawan then make a prompt comment
upon smelling the scent of meat getting cooked. Dayanand then reply in condescending manner
saying that it is their Muslim neighbor that cook meat. Further into the scene, Dayanand even
mention that he won’t allowed any Muslim to step foot into his house. He shows how much he
doesn’t like the other culture in this scene. The fact that he find a Muslim people to step into his
house is humiliating shows that he got racism and got ethnocentrism.

There is also one of scene when Pawan bring Syahida to the ambassador to send her back to
her country. We could see groups of Indian people are doing demonstration, insisting that they
release someone from the jail probably in Pakistan, because they are demonstrating in front of
the Pakistan ambassador. When Pawan and Syahida steps out from the ambassador office, they
had to witness firsthand when the riot turns aggressive. At this scene, even Pawan who had no
fault got hit by the officer because of the chaos. The scene was traumatizing and full of damages.
This scene shows ethnocentrism because even though they are fighting for the people from their
race, they didn’t show any mercy or hesitation on hitting innocent people just because they
wanted to get their points across.

Ethnocentrism is damaging the society and ripping it into divided parts which would put
a visible gap between cultures. It will prevent harmony and peace if ethnocentrism are continued
to be practiced by many people. It does not only stopped and individual to gain much knowledge,
but ethnocentrism can also cause a crack on the inside of the society. The crack inside of the
society will eventually cause a bigger crack and in the end could even damage a country. Unity is
what brings us uniqueness; therefore unity is what we shall seek.

5. Bad vs Good Values

The movie touch on a lot of issues that would make us realized what kind of society we’re
living in and what kind of attitude had we seen other culture with. Though there is no bad value
that I’ve got from the movie, there is some bad value that the character had. The character in the
movie are stereotyping, being prejudice and racist to each other. They are not able to see an
individual as they are and not colored them in the same color of the background of culture they
came from. The characters in the movie are also not afraid to resort to violence in taking care of
issue regarding the other culture. This value should not be followed and instead should be
learned and change.

The good value that I’ve seen in the main character, Bajrangi, he is a selfless person who are
willing to risk his life to return a little girl back to her family. It’s an admirable trait to see how
he didn’t think much about himself and are set on his goal to return Syahida back to her family.
To the point that he is willing to risk his life by crossing the border between Pakistan and India
even though he knows very well that it could cost him his life. They were chased and in the end
he was tortured by the police, but because of the Pakistan people support, he is able to go back to
his country. Pakistan and India also could enjoy the moment of them being able to tolerate each
other and seeing them through new lens and perspective.
 Besides that, I also admire his character where he is always honest and are determine to
never lie even once in his life. We could see his honesty traits in a comical scene where he was at
the border of Pakistan and India. At that time, he was supposed to continue his journey after
passing the border before the officer arrived. But because of his honest attitude, he waited on the
officer and ask for permission from them. This results him in getting beaten up by the officer.
Though the officer stated that he cannot distinct whether what he do is honorable to idiotic
things, the officer heart got persuade after seeing Pawan honest attitude. This is some of the bad
and good values that really got through me when I was watching the movie.

CONCLUSION

Culture doesn’t have to be something that separate us, the diversity in culture should be
something that makes us live in a harmony or uniqueness. Instead of highlighting the difference
of each culture, we should be able to find out middle ground, a principal that is made because of
the basis that we are human. Like Nawab said in his broadcast, Pawan doesn’t come to Pakistan
to risk his life to return the girl to her family because he wants the fame, but because of love.
Pawan loves Syahida regardless of her culture. Because before culture, comes the first and
foremost basic is that we are all human. Together we should be able to tear down the walls of
racism and mix together in a harmony of many colors of culture.
REFERENCE

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from Times Of India: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-
reviews/bajrangi-bhaijaan/movie-review/48108098.cms

Khan, K. (Director). (2015). Bajrangi Bhaijaan [Motion Picture].

Kumar, A. (2015, July 17). Bajrangi Bhaijaan: A generous leap of faith. Retrieved February 25,
2021, from The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/bajrangi-bhaijaan-a-
generous-leap-of-faith/article7434202.ece

Prasad , P. (2018, November 13). Bajrangi Bhaijaan Movie Review: Salman Khan's Finest
Performance, He Has Outdone Himself. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from Filmibeat:
https://www.filmibeat.com/bollywood/reviews/2015/bajrangi-bhaijaan-movie-review-
plot-critics-rating-salman-khan-story-190883.html