JNU students are miffed with Ranjhanaa makers for presenting a flaky picture of varsity life. They express their anguish to KARAN BHARDWAJ
Delhi’s campus life has often been a favourite with Mumbai’s filmmakers. Whether it is canteens of DU’s North campus or the dhabas inside the JNU’s premise, the filmdom has capitalised it all on screen. However, most filmmakers fail to understand the true ambience of university life. The recent for that matter is film Raanjhanaa which is drawing flak from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students for exaggerating the political life of the varsity. “I don’t understand why they can’t get it right. I was so excited to watch Raanjhanaa.
I went alone for the morning show but what I saw was disappointing. It’s a superficial look at our lives,†said Minakshi Buragohain, vice president of university’s student union. Buragohain’s anger is over the “concept of equality†being discussed between the characters of Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol, both are shown involved in political movements in the film. “It is because film’s director has seen JNU’s politics life from outside. The cast had visited the campus for a day or two, which is a short duration to understand our mood. Also, they are driven by commercial motives, so they tweak it accordingly,†she said.
Anksuh Gupta, who is pursuing PHD from School of Art and Aesthetics, slams the filmmakers for their lack of research. “First it was in Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola. The character of Imran Khan had the law degree from JNU. I want to know where on earth our university offers law degreeIJ In Raanjhanaa, characters take campus politics to national level. I am sorry but that doesn’t happen here! We believe in alternate politics, not the mainstream. In another scene, Dhanush climbs the pipe to meet her girl and the campus is disturbed by it. They talk as if a murder has been done. No, things are not discussed in that manner. It looks absolutely stupid!†he said.
Ambreen Agha, a PHD student from Centre for Political Studies is glad that even outsiders understand the exaggeration. “I was surprised when I heard others in the audience saying, ‘Is JNU like thisIJ or the makers have taken cinematic liberty to tell the taleIJ’ Sonam pursues politics to fulfill her deceased lover’s dream. Politics in JNU is about the movement, not about someone’s unfulfilled dreams,†she said.
Ektaa Malik, a former JNU student expressed her anguish over the factual errors. “Just spending an evening in the dhabas around, or drinking tea and overhearing phrases like democracy, socialism, socio-economic does not make anybody expert on JNU. They have reduced the university life to jeans, kurta and a jhola under the excuse of cinematic liberty. The way police keeps coming to the campus in film is hilarious. We don’t have a cut off system, we have an entrance exam. So the scene where Sonam says that she has the marks, but due to a year gap she has been denied admission is redundant and not applicable to JNU. If the place is fictional, then don’t use the term JNU or the idea of it. Also, we have GBM’s (General Body Meetings) — which have a proper agenda — and where one liners like ‘what made him a chor’ are not used,†she said.
