Borders of Geography, Frontiers and Issues of Border in Bollywood Movies

There has been different issues relating borders  as we usually think of borders as geographical lines dividers that have some kind of physical presence or political meaning.There are various ways of approaching borders of identity, community,barriers,vision , negotiating borders and frontiers as critical reading across borders , language ,texts , movies , stories of self and home,  identity,past and present,living fictions and multiple identities , belonging and alienation,  other and different  in living in a locality all relate with border analysis.

The geographical concept of border as first developed in the 19th Century envisages borders as physical and visible lines of separation between political, social and economic spaces, often charged with nationalistic energy.Translation further complicates the concept of border. In some languages the border is a broader concept than the English word border, including the idea of limit, limitation or also of frontier.Borders can have political, historical, ethical, psychological and artistic implications and connotations. 

What is emergent is a notion of ‘Critical Regionalism’ a culture of re-imagined solidarities with inflected manifestations of global without effacement of the local or national.Film technology, developed in the capitalist centre, arrived in India during colonial rule. It was part of a movement to promote indigenous enterprise and thus the idea of ‘Indian cinema’ was conceived. 

The technology did not arrive in a vacuum, there was a certain cultural, political and social field from which some people, encountering a new technology of representation, devised ways of putting it to uses that was in consonance with prevalent values.The nation as a problematic is a constantly reworked category. It acquires new forms to express new temporal and spatial configuration,new dynamics of power and economic exchange and this is evident in films trying to encompass contemporary experience via overt allegorical strategies. 

Nation is crucial for the schematization of not only political issues but also private lifestyles.Film as a popular medium emerged at a time when nationalism was one of the major political forces that shaped the destiny of Europe and America. And film history in the first half of the twentieth century was intimately linked with expression of national identity and competition among them. The power of cinematic text is discernibly ideological and as a conduit of political communication films have been a veritable space for cultural and political identity. 

Korean border actually runs through the buildings where the two sides meet. It even runs right down the middle of the conference table so the sides can stay on their half. The DMZ has evolved into a dual purpose barrier. Initially its sole purpose was to protect each side from invasion, but as conditions in North Korea got worse the North beefed-up security on their side to ensure defectors wouldn’t be able to cross.  

 The Melilla barrier is approximately seven miles long, and the Cueta approximately five. They’re easily monitored and patrolled, and  both are lit up constantly at night. The European Union aided in the funding in the hope that it would deter illegal activity. Both have so far proven to be effective barriers, but they’ve increased tensions with Morocco.

All along the Maginot Line they built an elaborate series of bunkers, vehicle traps, guard towers and other fortifications strategically placed to make an invasion from the powerful German military very difficult.

The Berlin Wall is West Berlin became a democratic enclave surrounded completely by communist East Germany. Between 1945 and 1961 there was no physical boundary between the two sections. West Berlin had been rebuilt into a thriving modern metropolis, while East Berlin was drab and still full of ruins from the war.

Hadrain Wall is constructed a wall approximately 80 miles long from the North Sea to the Irish Sea. so it was primarily constructed from stone and earthen mounds. There were garrisons and outposts strategically placed along the route. 

Australian Rabbit Fence, a nearly 1200 mile fence was built in the early 1900s. Virtually the entire length of the fence runs through uninhabited areas.In the late 1800s, someone had the brilliant idea of bringing rabbits to the country and  production of those rabbits in fenced areas was necessary for income.

Israel wall ,in urban areas a concrete wall stands as high as 26 feet. In rural areas it’s mainly a 10 foot high chain link fence topped with razor wire.Many have compared it to a new version of the Berlin Wall.

Chinese Wall ,the most famous section runs through the town of Jinshanling, where it’s been completely restored to its original state. This is its closest point to Beijing, making it a popular tourist destination.

USA Mexico Wall , a fence along the border with Mexico to curb illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Bear in mind this is a nearly 2000 mile border, most of which is rural desert.

German Border ,this was the barrier that separated East Germany from West Germany. All along these fence lines were towers staffed with guards trained to shoot on site. The final fence was about 100 feet from the actual border, meaning that if you were fortunate enough to get past all those fortifications guards could still shoot you before you reached the actual demarcation line.

I just remember ,Actor Salman Khan, whose film Tubelight is set against the backdrop of the 1962 Sino-Indian war, spoke about the futility of wars  , with hope that violence between nations could stop if those who order war are sent to the battle front.

Borders on being insensitive,disability’ on the screen in a half-hearted, caricaturist manner,in Bollywood,the disabled is either stereotypical or patronising, or they have used them as objects of pity, comic interludes, liabilities, medical aberrations, or burden etc dealt in Kalki Koechlin’s Margarita With A Straw.

Sanjeev Kumar, Koshish, also starring Jaya Bhaduri, depicts the life of a deaf and mute couple and their conflicts, their pain and struggle to survive in a rather insensitive society.  What keeps them going is their constant struggle and their persistence as they negotiate some of life’s greatest challenges, never giving up hope.

Sparsh,deals with the lives and feelings of other blind children of the school. Sparsh refers to the sensation and feeling of touch upon which blind people rely in the absence of sight.The film remains most memorable for the subtle acting of its leads, plus the handling of the issue of relationships with the visually handicapped, revealing the emotional and perception divide between the world, the "blind" and the "sighted", epitomized by the characters. 

Sadma,The film is the st.ory of Nehalata (Sridevi), a young woman who regresses to childhood after suffering a head injury in a car crash. Lost, she ends up trapped in a brothel before being rescued.

Khamoshi, the story is about Joseph (Nana Patekar) and Flavy Braganza (Seema Biswas), a deaf and mute couple in Goa.

Nuclear-armed and arch rivals, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan have fought four wars but have many common cultural characteristics, including shared languages. In their spoken forms, India’s Hindi and Pakistan’s Urdu are practically identical. 

 Screening Bollywood films in Pakistan was first banned outright after its 1965 war with India.As a result, the Urdu film industry gradually died out by the 1980s.The ban continued until 2007, when it was lifted by military dictator General Pervez Musharraf, as a result of a period of detente in relations between India and Pakistan.

 Tere Bin Laden was banned in Pakistan because it dealt with the controversial issue of slain Al-Qaeda head Osama Bin Laden and hit them where it hurts the most. The light-hearted movie was accused of containing vulgar and objectionable dialogues, abuses and derogatory remarks and was also labelled as anti-law enforcing agencies of Pakistan..

Khiladi 786's poster was launched in Pakistan, it immediately led to the banning of the film because of the religious significance of numerals '786' among Muslims.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan saw Shah Rukh Khan play an army officer in the Indian Army’s bomb disposal squad.The movie got banned owing to certain dialogues which hinted at the Pak army. 

Ek Tha Tiger,the plot of the movie dealt with altercations between the intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan i.e RAW and ISI respectively. No wonder, the Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif-starrer spy flick was declared 'problematic' and put on indefinite hold in Pakistan.  

Agent Vinod got banned just days before its scheduled release owing to its plot which established Pakistan's ISI as the anti-India element. 

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is an inspiring tale of a common man who rises above all odds to fulfill his dreams and goes on to be known as the 'Flying Sikh of India',it travels through the troubled past of India-Pakistan partition ,which ultimately led to the banning of the film. 

Issues of Border are not limited to geography only ,it also deals with frontier and negotiating borders and different Bollywood movies often portray the real scenerio of such issues and narrate the trauma in realistic way and which leads a clear vision of borders with multiple perspectives to have broader analysis of the same issue .