Everyday Muslim

As Hindi cinema, by and large, continues to fail to create films depicting the regular life of an Indian Muslim sans stereotyping, The Great Shamsuddin Family comes as a breath of fresh air

- By Saiyyad Mohammad Nizamuddin Pasha

“THE motion picture is able to stir up emotions more deeply than any other product of art,” said the Supreme Court as a justification for film censorship when director K.A. Abbas challenged the very idea of censorship of films by the Censor Board. Pre-censorship was justified by the court on account of the ‘instant appeal’ of movies, their versatility, realism and their simultaneous invocation of the visual and aural senses, which the court felt prompts people to suspend disbelief. The last decade has seen a dramatic shift, from films as a medium of entertainment to an instrument of propaganda being used to set narratives, particularly in the manner in which Muslims are depicted in Hindi cinema. The representation of Muslims in Indian, and more particularly, Hindi cinema has gone from one caricature to another, from characters wearing sherwanis and spouting Urdu poetry in Mere Mehboob (1963) to ISIS-sponsored love jihad in Kerala Story (2023) and bloodthirst in Udaipur Files (2025). As the makers of Kerala Story come out with a sequel which, going by the trailer, promises to plunge to new depths of hate propaganda, we need to take a moment to appreciate a film that attempts to chart a new course.

As Hindi cinema, by and large, continues to fail to come up with a film depicting the normal everyday life of an Indian Muslim sans stereotyping and caricature,