How Indian school teachers are trying to battle Bollywood’s Hindutva history deluge

For over two decades, a school teacher saw her students’ interest in history dwindle as their fascination for science and technology grew. Eventually, she made peace with children calling her subject “drab”. So, when Chhaava, Bollywood’s latest offering of dramatised Hindutva history, released in theatres across the country on February 14, she was caught off guard by their enthusiastic reaction to it.

However, this interest was warped by the film’s slanted portrayal of Indian medieval history. “For the first time we saw Aurangzeb live,” she recalled her students saying when she discussed it in class. “Miss, is this what the Mughals have done in our country?”

Chhaava tells the story of the second Maratha king Sambhaji and his late-17th-century wars against the Mughal empire. Its gory portrayal of Sambhaji’s torture and execution has sparked off extreme reactions, including deadly rioting in Nagpur. Sensing that the cinematic depiction of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s supposed cruelty had strongly influenced her students, she cautioned them against deducing anything about an entire dynasty from one movie.

“Akbar was the first Mughal ruler who waived off a pilgrim tax for the Hindus,” she said, reminding them that the history of the dynasty was varied. Even then, some ninth standard students influenced by the movie shouted...

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