Rise of the hero as lumpen lover

So Prem Dilwale is from Ayodhya, runs a popular Ramlila, is a vegetarian, and collects money for good causes. After playing a Hanuman bhakt who repeatedly fails in school in Bajrangji Bhaijaan, Salman Khan takes the simpleton Hindu hero a step further. Prem is a duffer with a heart of gold, stupidly in love with Princess Maithili, whom he first glimpses stepping down from a helicopter. But of course, given the largely under-educated times we are living in, he will, in the course of Sooraj Barjatya's three hour extravaganza, be the glue that fixes broken families, be the sensitive man who understands what a woman wants, and be the instinctive leader who rouses the faithful during an anachronistic raj tilak ceremony.

Time was when we were treated to heroes who could be nerds (3 Idiots), sportsmen (Chak De India), even policemen with a twisted sense of humour and honour (Dabangg). Since Salman Khan discovered how to be a good Hindu by being an RSS member in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, I suspect we are entering an era of the Hero as Duffer. Part of it may have to do with the crisis of masculinity today. How do men become worthy of women who are increasingly smarter than they are? In Bajrangi, Salman manages to impress Kareena Kapoor's schoolteacher with his pure heart. In Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, it is again Prem's blind loyalty, his ability to cry on tap when overwhelmed with the love of his sisters and his innate shyness in sexual matters.

As a concession to modernity, Sooraj Barjatya does make the man do the cooking (unlike the scene in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun where Salman carries Madhuri Dixit from the kitchen and plants her on a pool table (don't even get me started on that symbolism, woman as subject and then as plaything?) ensures that girls play football as well or perhaps better than the boys (step up from the cricket in that movie), and sees to it that the woman makes the first move. But Prem Ratan remains a film which showcases the possibility that all you need to succeed in life in a native intelligence, unfettered heart, and a loose connection with Lord Ram.

Education, a good career, some learning, this is for rich people who want to speak French and indulge in a spot of sword fighting. The Lumpen Lover Boy, who often shows disturbing signs of stalker behaviour (Dhanush in Raanjhanaa anyone?), is the hero to be celebrated. It would be too easy to read this merely as Salman Khan's continuing effort to find (and get) favour in the new ruling dispensation. It is also the times we live in, where feudalism is celebrated, especially if it wears a crystal encrusted achkan, and stupidity is revered if it comes wrapped up in Ramlila colours, with a side order of Haldiram's sweets and vegetarian pizza with extra cheese.