SC makes national anthem mandatory in cinema halls: Key questions

Also read: Sad if my love for India is measured over whether I stand up for the national anthem or not

Is patriotism a stand-up comedy? Or, to rephrase the question, can stand-up comedy be patriotic?

If Supreme Court of India is to be believed, and can we, in all earnest, disregard what the apex judicial body in the country says, the national anthem has something to do with this new term called "constitutional patriotism", and it can be amply demonstrated if it is played in cinema halls, and if we all not fail to stand up when it plays.

It's one thing to have an arcane law called Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971. It's quite another thing to have the Supreme Court mandate that the national anthem must be played at an arbitrarily chosen venue - the cinema hall, ostensibly for its audiovisual purposes, the best tool for propaganda - and that we must, must display our patriotism by standing up when it does.

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