Swami Chaitanya Keerti

Raanjhanaa has made it big at the box office, having already grossed over `50 crore in two weeks. Not only that, it has also won appreciation from critics and movie buffs. But ironically, one corner where it is being widely criticised is the very place that forms an integral part of the film — Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Days after the release, the social media was abuzz with appreciation for the film. But JNU students were far from happy with it. In fact, they have taken serious objections to the film. The reason — they claim that the depiction of JNU in the film has undermined its culture and its politics.
Suraj Beri, who is studying sociology in JNU, believes that the film has achieved a “highly distorted depiction of JNU’s image”.
“JNU politics moves around the issues of social justice, influenced by left perspective where collective is more important than an individual’s charismatic personality. However, the film portrays JNU politics as exactly the opposite. It shows JNU students indulging in hero worship of a man performing individual stunts,” he says.
“Also by portraying the debate culture of JNU and psychological make up of its students as something ‘boring’, it can claim to be a movie critical of JNU culture itself,” adds Suraj.
Anand L. Rai, the director of the film, however doesn’t think that his film is critical of JNU. “And if it is, it’s definitely not intentional. I have high respect for the institute and won’t deliberately do anything to malign its image. Also I’d love to know where I’ve let down the JNU students,” he said in reaction to the criticism by JNU students.
Kshirod Nag, another JNU student, reiterates Suraj’s view and believes that the film not only depicts JNU in a wrong manner but also aims to reject the modern values that JNU stands for.
“First, the patriarchal nature of the student organisation leader as shown in the film is in complete contradiction with the reality. JNU is one of the most gender-sensitive campuses and its leader would never be like the character played by Abhay. And second, the film’s treatment of modernity (represented by JNU) and tradition (represented by Dhanush) is aimed at rejecting the modern values. Whenever there is a crisis, the man who represents the traditional values comes out as a victor and the people representing the modern values (JNUites) as failures. In doing so, the film has tried to show that traditional values are more important than the modern ones,” says Kshirod.
Anand Rai, while reacting to this criticism, said that he couldn’t believe these comments are coming from JNU students. “I can expect such comments from some social activists but not from JNU students. They are above all this. I have great respect for JNU as an institution and its students. Each individual from JNU has a strong and distinct identity. I have a lot of JNU ex-students around me and it’s always nice to listen to their views as they come with a certain weightage. My only concern is that these things aren’t coming from JNU students; and if they are, then it’s really sad,” he added.
Kshirod, on an ending note, said that the director should visit the campus sometime and interact with JNU students to understand their concerns. This might be a good idea for both the students and the filmmaker.