In the heart of national anthem debate lies Karan Johar's 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham'

A superhero or a supervillain never appears out of thin air. They did not just suddenly turn into a powerful creature with superhuman abilities hell bent on either destroying or saving mankind. No. They all have origin stories. Like Krypton’s destruction for Superman, or the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, that led to Bruce eventually becoming Batman, the tale of the Supreme Court and the Indian National Anthem too has an origin story: Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.

Yes, Karan Johar’s 2001 family drama is the reason why patriotism is being shoved down our throats 15 years later, as the Supreme Court directed that the national anthem must be played in all movie theatres, across the country, before movie screenings. It all started when in early 2002, Bhopal’s Shyam Narayan Chouksey, a retired engineer, decided to go for the Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.  But what should have been a regular affair at Jyoti Talkies in Bhopal, with overpriced popcorn and wolf-whistling from the front rows, turned into something of an obsession for Mr Chouksey.

One of the more famous scenes in the movie is one, where Shahrukh Khan’s son, in a school function in London, sings the national anthem. A proud patriot, Mr Chouksey stood up at that very moment to respect the national anthem. Alas, he was one of the only few to have done so. In fact, a few people around him objected to his action and complained that he was blocking their view.

Chouksey was left saddened at the state of affairs. He was shocked at how callously his fellow audience members treated the national anthem. Post the movie, he went to the manager of the theatre and complained to him about the incident, only to be told that nothing could be done about it. What followed was a protest on his part, outside the theatre that gave way to him reaching out to the local administration, the state police, and finally the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur consequently banned the screening of the movie and asked for the national anthem part of it to be deleted. When Karan Johar, the director of the movie appealed to the Supreme Court, a ruling was made that the audience did not need to stand up when the national anthem was played in the movie, as people standing up during the course of a movie would create disorder and confusion, rather than add to the dignity of the national anthem.

More than a decade later, on November 30, 2016, a bench in India’s apex court presided by Justice Dipak Misra, directed that all cinema halls in the country will have to play the Indian National Anthem before every movie and added that the national anthem should not be commercially exploited “to gain any financial advantage”.

This order comes as a response to a petition filed by, none other than, Shyam Narayan Chouksey.

If this feels like déjà vu, here’s another startling coincidence in the two stories. The Madhya Pradesh High Court ruling that asked for the national anthem scene in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham to be be deleted, was headed by the same person who headed the Supreme Court bench – Dipak Misra.

Both the judgements also refer to the section 51A of the Constitution of India which states that “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem”.

So, the next time you want to blame someone for being overtly patriotic in your personal space, look towards Karan Johar (who was recently tagged with the anti-national mark for casting a Pakistani actor in this film). He may not add anything to our lives other than big-budget family dramas with a lot of overacting, but he is the butterfly whose wings flapped to create a storm that 15 years later has taken the shape of an almost military junta like ruling to compulsorily respect a national symbol.

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