Innovation: International Journal of Applied Research Research Article December ISSN: 2347-9272 (Volume-1, Issue-1) 2013

Exclusion in Cinematic Space: A Case Study of Chak De Nancy Kaushik* Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Geography, School of Economics, University of Delhi, India.

Abstract:

In the present scenario, multi- media serve multiple functions, including the construction and transmission of social meanings that are visible in cultural artefacts. Films do more than that, with its narrative function, cinema offers works of art and "richly layered cultural practices". Such practices result from the interconnection of cinema with culture. In the spatial construction of society, spaces have a material reality and symbolic significance that can take on life of their own. Therefore, this paper attempts to explain the construction of cinematic space wherein the movie “Chak De India” is the representation of real world and from which the incidences of exclusion have been carved out. Chak de India is such a movie that attracts audience as it is a simple tale told with a classical style. Patriotism is one of the important elements reflected within this cinematic space, ranging from representation of feelings to the selection of landscapes. Patriotism is a common emotion and its awareness unites countrymen in spite of the unmatched diversity. The cinematic space of Chak de India greatly supports the fact. Though there have been various factors of diversity on the basis of identity, exclusion, region, language etc. This paper attempts to figure out the incidences of exclusion reflected in this particular cinematic space under the following broad heads- on the basis of religion, language, gender, region, popularity and development. This paper focuses on the issue of exclusion which can clearly be labelled as an ill to the society and is also a hindrance in the path of nation building.

Key Words: Cinema, Exclusion, Space, India, Social

I. INTRODUCTION Spaces are scientific and geometric, filled with an accumulation of social facts, providing an accurate but simplified representation of a more complex real world. In the spatial construction of society, spaces have a material reality and symbolic significance and can take on life of their own. Spatial patterns not only express but also shape social relations. Therefore, this paper attempts to explain the construction of cinematic space wherein the movie “Chak De India” is the representation of real world and from which the incidences of exclusion have been carved out. Over the time scholars agree that mass media serve multiple functions, including the construction and conveyance of social meanings observable in cultural artefacts (Coleman, 1995). Films do more than that, with its story-telling (narrative) function, cinema offers works of art and "richly layered cultural practices" (Corrigan, 2003). Such practices result from the interconnection of cinema with culture. Noted scholars Gerald Mast and Marshall Cohen (1985) observed that what is significant from a cultural perspective is, "the way films shape or reflect cultural attitudes, rein- force or reject the dominant modes of cultural thinking, and stimulate or frustrate the needs and drives of the psyche". As a form of narrative, cinema joins the objective with the subjective, merging the historical with the personal (Entrikin, 1991). Cinema thus embraces a double-edged social constructionist frame: messages and meanings are constructed within film, and audiences actively sort, discard, and construct meaning in their interactions with film (Baird 1996; Blumer 1969; Edgerton and Jackson 1996; Mead 1934). Writing about film, Robert Scholes (1985) called this process "narrativity," in which the perceiver "actively constructs a story from the fictional data provided by any narrative medium. A fiction that guides us as our own active narrativity seeks to complete the process that will achieve a story". It is the cinematic space that redefines expressions like reel patriotism without stroking hatred for another nation. Indian cinema has contributed immensely to the cultivation of the uniting and uplifting feelings of nationalism. Patriotic films, as a special and much admired genre of Indian cinema, have had a tremendous impact on our people, cutting across religious, regional, linguistic and economic identities. Moreover, they have also proved their unsurpassed power of communicating both to educated and illiterate masses. Cinematic space is the enduring source of image of their nation as a vast and diverse land bounded by the Himalayas in the north, surrounded by oceans on three sides, girdled by sacred rivers like Ganga, Yamuna and Godavari and blessed with captivating natural beauty and rich resources. For people it is also the primary source of knowledge about national heroes, martyrs, the struggles and sacrifices of our forefathers, the work of our social reformers, and the wars of the pre- and – post Independence era, including the recent and on-going war against cross-border terrorism and our achievements as a free and democratic nation. II. BACKGROUND “Chak De India” is the story of a coach‟s fight to make his team, Team India, the best in the world. It is a film about self- confidence, determination, fortitude and the human spirit to fight and win. It‟s a story of a man mentoring a hockey team of young and feisty girls. Their determination, ambition and skills are put to test in an ultimate contest with the world‟s top teams. For the girls it is a chance to make their nation proud along with to prove them and for their coach it is a chance to reclaim his lost honour and identity.

Kaushik et al. Page 27 Innovation: International Journal of Applied Research Research Article December ISSN: 2347-9272 (Volume-1, Issue-1) 2013

The plot is loosely based on the life of Mir Ranjan Negi, the Indian goalkeeper of hockey in the 1982 Asian Games Final where India lost to arch rival Pakistan by a whopping 7-1. Negi was made the scapegoat for that defeat and the humiliation made him vanish from the hockey scene for years only to return as the coach of the Indian Women‟s Hockey team and lead them to victory in the Commonwealth Games in 2002. In this particular context there are various elements identified like identity, exclusion, differences, factors of nation building etc. out of which Exclusion is the focus of this paper. There have been several incidences of exclusion reflected in this particular cinematic space under the following broad heads- on the basis of religion, language, gender, region, levels of development, exclusion of a game, on the basis of seniority etc. III. EXCLUSION Exclusion is strongly connected to the idea of stigma referring to the way in which particular individual or groups may come to be viewed as standing apart from and as posing a threat to normal society. According to Chris Philo: Exclusion refers to a situation in which certain members of society are, or become separated from much that comprises that normal “round” of living and working within society and should be thought of “as simultaneously social and spatial”. Indeed, excluded individuals will tend to slip outside, or even become unwelcomed visitors within, those spaces which come to be regarded as the loci of mainstream social life for example Middle class suburbs, up market shopping malls, or prime public spaces. Exclusion is a word that many people are familiar with but may find difficult to define. As is used in different contexts- Social exclusion: A phrase that suggests a concern with material inequalities- of health care, education, housing or employment, for example, for others the word may have quite different connotations. Social exclusion is a concept used in many parts of the world to characterise contemporary forms of social disadvantage. Dr. Lynn Todman, director of the Institute on Social Exclusion at the Adler School of Professional Psychology, suggests that social exclusion refers to processes in which individuals and entire communities of people are systematically blocked from rights, opportunities and resources. There are other viewpoints also like “Whatever the content and criteria of social membership, socially excluded groups and individuals lack capacity or access to social opportunity.” (Hilary Silver, 2007) The concept of exclusion in terms of social exclusion is a relatively recent import into the field of development studies, and debate continues about its usefulness. Some development academics believe that the concept of social exclusion is useful because the emphasis on the social and economic processes that create exclusion helps academics and policy makers to better understand the causes and consequences of exclusion and deprivation (Ann Nevile, 2007) The first person to explore the notion of the geographies of exclusion in any detail was the social geographer David Sibley. In his “Outsiders in Urban Society” (1981), he noted how stigmatized groups commonly inhabit the geographical margins of society. Sibley also investigated the role that spatial boundaries play in maintaining social boundaries. As he recognised, as those considered socially marginal are either pushed towards or, in an attempt to avoid confrontation and abuse, seek out geographically marginal spaces, spaces emerge as both an expression of and a means by which exclusionary practices gain purchase and meaning. Developing these ideas further, in “Geographies of Exclusion” (1995), Sibley set out to explain the dynamics of such practices. Drawing upon the ideas of „Objects Relation Theory‟, Sibley argued that western identities are structured by an innate need to differentiate between those identified as fundamentally different or other. Having constructed such a distinction in their infancy, people are then engaged in a life long struggle to maintain this distinction lest that which is different undermines a clear and coherent sense of self. One way of maintaining this distinction is to ensure a suitable physical distance is also maintained between “Self” and “Other” though, as Sibley recognizes, distances per se is rather less important than the fact a clear an unambiguous boundary as established between the two. Though in Object Relation Theory these ideas are mainly developed at inter- personal level, it is not difficult to see how they can be applied at a broader scale, or why they might be attractive to geographers. A. Exclusion on the Basis of Religion India presents a baffling diversity in religious persuasions and faiths. Although the traditional religion of the land is Hinduism, many other faiths and belief systems, from tribal forms of religion to Buddhism, Christianity and Islam have co-existed for centuries. They have created for themselves cultural niches within a shared space but there have been incidences of conflict among the various religious groups. There still exists the concept of minority and majority. This particular aspect has been reflected well in our cinematic space of Chak de India, where there is exclusion of Captain of Indian Hockey team- Kabir (Shah Rukh Khan), the best centre- forward of the team, misses the crucial, last minute penalty stroke against Pakistan and is blamed for the Indian team‟s defeat in the finals. So much so, he is labelled as a “Gaddar” (traitor) by his own fellow countrymen. Disgraced and dishonoured for one momentary failure, Kabir Khan leaves his parental house with his mother and disappears into oblivion. The main stress is on him being a Muslim where there are sayings like “Hindustan ki uniform me Pakistani” (A Pakistani in Indian uniform) have been used for him. He had the feeling of topophilia- nostalgia, when he was excluded from the society where he had been living for long and no body trusted him after that incidence and made him leave with teary eyes. B. Exclusion on the Basis of Gender Gender refers to a criterion of social organization that distinguishes different groups of people on the basis of feminity or masculinity. As a concept, gender is usually used in geography as a distinction to that of sex in order to emphasis the social construction of women‟s and men‟s roles, relations and identities.

Kaushik et al. Page 28 Innovation: International Journal of Applied Research Research Article December ISSN: 2347-9272 (Volume-1, Issue-1) 2013

Gender is the most dominant element that has been highlighted as the base of exclusion in this cinematic space. The whole story revolves around females, who have been continuously struggling to prove themselves. There are numerous examples of struggle shown in this movie with different contexts, „within family‟ as in the case of Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat) who fights with her parents to play hockey and be part of the national hockey team, struggle „with in- laws‟ as in the case of team's captain, Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malvade), who is forced to choose between hockey and the wishes of her husband Rakesh's (Nakul Vaid) family. Or the „struggle at society or national level‟, as exposed at the selection board meeting in the movie, where Mr. Tripathi (Anjan Srivastav), the head of India's Hockey association, meets with Khan's friend and hockey advocate Uttamaji (Mohit Chauhan), to discuss the Indian women's hockey team, Tripathi argues the team has no future since, the only long term role for women is to "cook and clean." These incidences facilitate us with numerous examples of exclusion of women, taking base of the Indian society, where women are perceived to be the ones restricted to household chores. Secondly, the important fact reflected in the movie is that women face gender biasness when it comes to decisions making. Women have to carry out the social burden also, as illustrated in the incidence when Preeti Sabarwal (Sagarika Ghatge) was told by her boyfriend, Abimanyu Singh (Vivan Bhatena), the (fictional) vice-captain of the India national cricket team, that her parents have fixed their marriage, she was shocked that her parents didn‟t even discussed it with her. One can easily make out the status of women in taking decisions of their life itself, which has again been somehow or the other dominated by male section of the society. C. Exclusion on the Basis of Region India is a country of vast territorial extends and each region within itself forms a differently characterised region. Exclusion on the basis of region is also being identified in this particular context. North- Eastern part of India is the victim of this type of exclusion. The region being characterized as difficult to access and relative isolation makes it excluded from rest of the mainland. The exclusion is well reflected in the mentality of people, where northeast Indians are considered as foreigners and not from India. This fact is well depicted in the beginning part of the movie, where the eve teasers dared to say anything because the girls would not understand hindi, thinking of them - someone belonging to China or Nepal. This is the fact that makes them other from the self. The second incidence involves the idea of exclusion on the basis of their location on the eastern periphery of the mainland of India. As shown in a scene at the registration desk where the considered as guests in one‟s own country,. This largely creates the feeling of resentment among the people of northeast India. As in the movie the Manipur girl replies “Apne hi desh me mehman banker kya khush rahenge”. (When called guest in our own country can we be happy?) D. Exclusion on the Basis of Language India is a home of a very large number of languages and it is often referred as a “Museum of Languages” (Ahmed, 1999). The language factor is an important factor of exclusion in country like India where the origin of states owes its existence on the basis of differences in languages. There is not only horizontal diversity but vertical diversity also. Language provides the base for regional identity, which ultimately leads to clashes between the people of two regions. One can locate cases of exclusion on the basis of language in this particular cinematic space also. One such incidence can be at registration desk when the girl emphasised on difference between Telugu and Tamil, and also exemplified it with the difference between Punjabi and Bihari. This could clearly depict the tension and conflict of regions on the very basis of language through the cinematic medium. It is also a fact that there is exclusion along with the reflectance of attitude where one dominates over the other. As in other example, the girl from Punjab has been portrayed such that she reflects the dominance of Punjab over the north Indian states, in the scene when the girl from Jharkhand does not know Punjabi and she replies “Punjabi nahi ati toh sikhke ani thi” (If you do not know Punjabi, then you should have learned it).

E. Exclusion on the Basis of Popularity This type of exclusion basically focuses on exclusion of Hockey, the national game and its players. It is in reference to popularity of Cricket instead of Hockey, it being a national game. There is not much importance given to Hockey and its players as compared to that of Cricket. This fact has been clearly reflected in this cinematic space of Chak de India, as it‟s not at all a matter of concern when a hockey team goes for a World Cup, but when it‟s the Cricket World Cup then all the matches are centre of attraction. There is discrimination among players on the basis of popularity of their game. The scene is related to the present day reality in the county also, when one can recollect the glorious welcome and treatment given to the winning players of Twenty-Twenty Cricket World Cup (2007) and ICC World Cup (2011) on one side and on the other side the win of Indian Hockey Team in Asia Cup (2003, 2007) which were of no concern. F. Exclusion on the Basis of Levels of Development This is the concept that is related to the differences among the regions of India. The differences among regions are because of various factors out of which development is an important factor. As it can be seen in this cinematic space also, Jharkhand is shown as an excluded part where it is still related or linked to “Jungles”. In one scene it has been shown that the girl from Punjab calls the girls from Jharkhand as “Jungali” (Wild). This actually draws attention towards the fact that as Punjab is a developed state with the highest per capita income of the nation, has differences with other states and that too within north India (Jharkhand in this case). The concept of exclusion is clearly reflected from the fact that though

Kaushik et al. Page 29 Innovation: International Journal of Applied Research Research Article December ISSN: 2347-9272 (Volume-1, Issue-1) 2013

Jharkhand is not very far off from Punjab but still Jharkhand has no identity as a state in the minds of someone belonging to Punjab. IV. CONCLUSION Many people do say that Indian Cinema is not at par with Hollywood as far as original ideas are concerned. But there have been cases of films that have absolutely no match. Chak de India is such a movie that attracts audience as it is a simple tale told with a classical style. As mentioned earlier it is a movie that is a mosaic of various elements. Patriotism is one of the important elements reflected within this cinematic space ranging from the feeling to selection of landscapes for e.g. India Gate, National Stadium etc. Patriotism is a common emotion and self-awareness unites our people inspite of the unmatched diversity they exhibit. The cinematic space of Chak de India greatly supports the fact. Though there have been various factors of diversity on the basis of identity, exclusion, region, language etc. at the end this was the only factor which made the winner after all odds. As the paper focuses on the issue of exclusion one can clearly label it as an ill to the society and is also a hindrance in the path of nation building.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT It gives me immense pleasure to express my heartful gratitude and sincere thanks to Dr. Anindita Datta for her valuable suggestions and ideas. My sincere thanks to all the writers and authors whose work I have referred in this paper and also to staff of Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics and Ratan Tata Library for providing frequent references to me. I do not have words to express my feelings for my family and last but not the least I wish to thank God for being with me.

REFERENCES [1] Aijazuddin Ahmed, Social Geography, Rawat Publications, India, 1999. [2] Ann Nevile, “Amartya K. Sen and Social Exclusion”, Development in Practice, vol. 17, No.2, pp. 249-255; 2007. [3] Chris Philo, “A Lyffe in Pyttes and Caves: Exclusionary Geographies of the West Country Tinners”, Geoforum, vol. 29, No. 2, pp.159-172; 1998. [4] David Sibley, Outsiders in Urban Society, Basil Blackwell Publishers, 1981. [5] David Sibley, Geographies of Exclusion, Taylor & Francis, 1995. [6] Gary Edgerton and Kathy Merlock Jackson, “Redesigning Pocahontas”, Journal of Popular Film & Television. vol. 21 A, pp. 90-99; 1996. [7] George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviourist. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1934. [8] Herbert Blumer, “Symbolic Inter Actionism: Perspective and Method”, Berkeley, University of California, 1969. [9] Hilary Silver, “Social Exclusion: Comparative Analysis of Europe and Middle East Youth”, Middle East Youth Initiative Working Paper, p.15; 2007. [10] J. Nicholas Entrikin, The Betweenness of Place: Towards Geography of Modernity. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1991. [11] Lynn Todman, Institute on Social Exclusion, Adler School of Professional Psychology [12] Robert Baird, “Going Indian: Discovery, Adoption, and Renaming Toward a True American, from Deers layer to Dances with Wolves”. Dressing in Feathers, edited by L. Elizabeth Bird, pp.195-209, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1996. [13] Robert Scholes, Narration and Narrativity in Film. Film Theory and Criticism, edited by Gerald Mast and Marshall Cohen, pp. 390 - 410. New York, Oxford University Press, 1985. [14] , (Director) Chak De India. , India, 2007. [15] Timothy Corrigan, “Short Guide to Writing about Film”. New York, Longman, 2003.

.

Kaushik et al. Page 30