Ashish Avikunthak

Ashish Avikunthak

Ashish Avikunthak brought CU some very interesting films from India.  It was interesting to view these films because none of them are allowed to be shown in India, because the content is too vulgar according to the Indian values and culture.  My favorite film Avikunthak showed was the third one, made by Avikunthak himself,  about the religious ceremonies where goats are sacrificed.  It brought to mind some issues in India that are issues in America as well.

The religious ceremony held is very traditional.  The people who partake in this ceremony cleanse the goats who will be sacrificed, and cover them in flowers.  Women wear traditional clothes, and the film takes place on ancient religious grounds.  A decorated woman in blue makeup greets the people from a bridge.  No cameras are allowed where the ceremony takes place in order to preserve its history and culture.  Yet, that is exactly what Avikunthak did.  He filmed on these ancient grounds to expose people to this culture.  He exposed this culture through media.  Media seems to be an element changing both the American culture, and the Indian culture as well.

Ken Kelman wrote in his article, The Anti-Information Film about Conner’s Report that, “Conner simultaneously evokes the phenomena of random impersonal forces and those of American technology- mass communication, mass production, mass demonstration-creating a strange sense of their connection, if not identity.”  With Avikunthak’s film, I believe that the man who seems to be the main focus of the film, is struggling with this idea.  We know him only by what we see in his room.  In his room there is a poster of an American martial arts film, with a muscular man covering most of the poster.  By this we know the man has been exposed to western culture.  He flips through a fashion magazine.  Clearly he has developed some western values.  The media in these forms are changing him, taking him away from his true Indian culture.  Not only is physical appearance important to him, but it is the idealized American appearance.  

The young man then starts to work out, adding to the idea that physical appearance has lots of value.  He does push ups, which resemble praying in Indian culture.  Avikunthak clearly meant to blur the line between praying and working out in this situation.  It seems as if the young man is bowing to the ideas of body image and media.  The question Avikunthak is asking here is, why have these important values changed?  Religion is considered the base of Indian culture, so it is sad to see it corrupted by western ideas and values.  It is drawing attention to the fact that media should not be more important that religion or culture.  India holds a very strong importance on religion, and this helps explain why many films are not seen in India simply because they can disrupt the social life of its citizens, where religion dominates the country.  Their country’s values would change drastically if everyone there was westernized.  

The next scene shows the man preparing for the religious ceremony.  He applies makeup and gets dressed.  He dresses in women’s clothes and sports a long black wig.  The dark makeup covers him up and he now looks like a woman.  The man goes to the ceremony and greets people as a religious symbol.  People see a woman, but in reality it is a man.  It is as if their innocence is spoiled by the fact that a man dressed in drag is lying to them and disrespecting their religion.  To me, this man is simply working a job, not paying attention to the disrespect it shows for every single person at that ceremony.  His values are once again skewed and in result, his country and culture is disrespected,  Avikunthak said after we viewed this film that his culture would be mortified to learn that a man was dressed as that religious figure.  Not only does it go against the country’s values against cross dressing, but it also shames their religion.

As Avikunthak walks through the sea of people while filming, the people passing by all stare at him and the camera.  Their faces look horrified, angry, and curious. They are being disgraced by the audacity of some man breaking the importance of the land they are on.  The religious ceremony does not need to be exposed to a camera in their eyes.  Most of the people simply stare at the camera as if they are curious.  Are they curious of what this machine is?  Are they curious as to why this man is exposing their culture?  Are they curious of these western ideas?  Avikunthak seems to be asking these questions, and I feel he is worried of what will happen to this innocent culture.  If all of these people are angry or horrified simply because a man is holding a camera,  it is impossible to even begin how these people would react if they saw what their government is forbidding them to see.  

Throughout the film, men are sacrificing goats as their religious duty.  Everyone watches respectfully.  They are not grossed out and they view this as something that needs to be done, and it is done without harm, yet it reminds me of their culture.  The goat is India’s culture and government, and the man killing the goat is western culture.  Although our culture penetrating theirs is not as prominent as a man cutting up a goat, it is still present.  It isn’t happening as rapidly as a man chopping off an innocent goat’s head, but it is happening nonetheless.  In my western view,  I view the goat as innocent, and the man killing it as evil.  Their country is innocent in the same way, as they believe in peace and have never really done nothing wrong.  They are living happily with their values and religion, when we come along with the possibility of ruining it.  

There is a scene where a man is carving a goat into chunks.  There is a group of little boys watching him do this.  They all sit there as if they are accustomed to this slaughtering.  It is their religion and the way they view that goat is as a sacrifice to the gods.  They sit there calmly and watch the man cut up the goat.  One boy, though,  seems a bit squeamish.  He is wearing a Reebok t-shirt, frowning and looking uncomfortable.  This little boy seems to be developing our western ideas and beliefs.  His Reebok shirt stands out at this religious ceremony, and he clearly values that poor animals life.  This is yet another part of western culture that does not fit the eastern criteria for religious values.

Ashish Avikunthak made a film de-glorifying both American and Indian cultures.  American ideas and values are changing their people, and in turn changing their conservative society.  India has been disgraced by the exposure of a man in drag posing as a religious figure in their society.  This film shows that media and mass communication can change what we value most, even though what media has brought us isn’t valuable at all.