If you want to learn about Muslims and their culture, I request you to not watch Bollywood movies or Hindi serials. All you’ll get is a very stereotyped image of a Muslim which will usually portray them as a mafia, terrorist or a tawaif (a highly-sophisticated courtesan).
I cannot emphasise enough on the fact that stereotyping is dangerous, and it creates a great impact on people, especially children. They may not know what it means but they’ll have a certain image set in their minds when a person says ‘Muslim’ – and it may not be a very pleasant one. Now we don’t want that, plus it’s a big factor which contributes to Islamophobia.
Here are a few pointers for people who are hell-bent on stereotyping Muslims:
- Not every Muslim has connections with some underworld don.
- Not every Muslim address themselves as ‘hum’.
- Not every Muslim wears a choker type ‘taveez’ around their neck.
- Not every Muslims applies kohl.
- Not every Muslim covers their head with a dupatta or wears ghararas all the freaking time.
- No, we do not eat meat like savages. Some of us don’t even like meat. (Shocker, eh?)
- We speak many other languages, other than Urdu.
- WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ISIS. (Guess what? ISIS kills far more Muslims than non-Muslims)
In a country of 172 million Muslims, they have boxed the on-screen portrayal of Muslims in a tiny box. We’re not bloodthirsty guys; we’re just normal human beings who get together on festivals to have biryani, or sometimes, we don’t even need a reason to have biryani. On a serious note though, we’re as normal as your girl/boy next door. We just want to see someone on-screen whom we can relate and identify with. Is that too much to ask for?
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