Mumbai: Around 40 Shia organisations (anjumans) that organise religious processions in the month of Muharram held a meeting and decided to restrain the film industry from displaying the ritualistic mourning procession as part of film sequences.
The organisations have claimed that the usage in films sends out a wrong message to the audience as it is used as a build up prior to a violent scene.
The last time such a sequence was displayed was in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees, which had faced a lot of opposition from the Shia community for showing Khan jumping over the flags (alams) and some other scenes that depicted the rituals. The film was released after the objectionable scenes were deleted or shaved considerably.
According to Parvez Ali, one of the convenors of the meeting that was held on Sunday night, the act of doing matam by beating the chest with one's hand and letting one's blood through self-flagellation is done for the love of the grandson of the Prophet who was martyred in Karbala.
“The sentiments of the faithful who undertake these acts of matam are kept aside when the same is depicted in the film. The act of matam by the hero is shown as an act of bravado, which is not the purpose of doing matam. Hence the need to stop its depiction in films,” said Mr Ali. The anjumans, which belong to different parts of the city like south Mumbai, Bandra, Kurla, Andheri, Malwani, Mira Road, Mumbra and Govandi, during the meeting discussed at length the various downsides of the depiction of matam negatively in the films and came to a consensus that it needs to be stopped.
“We are preparing a memorandum that will be submitted to the film fraternity and delivered individually to the big production houses asking them to respect the
sentiments behind the matam and not to use it for hyping the scenes in their films,” said Hasan Sayyed, the convenor of another anjuman. He added that the anjumans had the support of the ulemas and decision was taken after consultation with them.
