'Safe' action movies to make roads safe?

Social realism and Bollywood have always had a tricky relationship. PhDs have been gained by investigating secularism in Amar, Akbar, Anthony, while most of us simply sat back to enjoy it. Sarkari India has always looked at Hindi films as a vehicle to transmit homilies. Road Secretary Vijay Chhibber, rightly concerned about road safety, appealed to Shah Rukh Khan on Monday “to be careful” about enacting car and bike action scenes, since youngsters could try out stunts and thereby hurt themselves and others. Concerned citizens as we are, we’re thankful that Chhibber is too busy to dabble in films.

To watch cars being blown up or bikes ramming through glass are things that only films allow us to enjoy. Or, at least, that’s the idea. In real life, jumping off rooftops has consequences of some gravity. In movies, it’s the best route for escape – from the baddies as well from reality. Films depicting unadulterated acts of goodness, car chases that stick to the speed limit, and couples who live happily ever after could well be made. The problem is, it’s unlikely people will want to watch them, thereby defeating its moral purpose. Our advice: just make the good guy always win, and the nice guy always get the girl. And in the real world, stick to the law and uphold it, firmly.