Media365
When actor Imran Khan was detained for participating in a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the internet lit up with memes of Jai Singh Rathor fulfilling his destiny. Khan is being “simped on” almost as much as when his breakout debut, Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (2008), saw him play Jai, a glowing green flag from a clan of Red Rajput buntings.
Jai is descended from a line of martial men, and is destined to beat someone up, go to prison, and ride a horse. Only Jai, who does have a “violent streak”, follows his mom’s path, a lawyer fighting for the oppressed. Jai eschews macho violence, prefers constitutional methods, but is unafraid to stand up for a cause. Yes, the memes do write themselves.
As a millennial, I went over all the memes of Imran Khan on a white horse with a wistful nostalgia. Every generation, I suppose, looks back in misguided fondness after a certain age, but the millennials’ nostalgia is shared beyond our cohort. For many, geography and economics permitting, the 2005-2010 period, when Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na came out, seems to be the last time the arc of the moral universe at least pretended to bend towards justice. In India, the Right to Education and Right to Information had been codified. In the US, Barack Obama was promising, “Yes, We Can”.
Those were hopeful times, which could produce a hero who preferred the Constitution to the sword, in a movie that was a rom-com and wore its politics lightly.
When Jaane Tu came out, in July 2008, I was in Class 12. I remember a discussion in class about who liked “metrosexual” men like Jai and who preferred the “retrosexual” brand of masculinity prevalent in our small town. Retrosexual is such a cute anachronism in an era defined by looksmaxxing men whose personalities are built around hating women. The guy Jai finally did beat up would probably be unironically hailed as an “alpha” today.
The coarsening of the public sphere is of course not limited to one area.
In Bollywood, the fresh, bright feel of Jaane Tu is rare. Movies proudly wear their politics on their right sleeves. Violence is glorified — as tinsel town flounders, the few monster hits have all been “action” movies. The “discourse” is about whether senseless toxicity is just art by another name, and whether jingoistic, xenophobic propaganda can be enjoyed for its pacing and background music.
No, this is not the best time to go looking for heroes. Stars have fallen, idols have been found with feet of particularly fragile clay. Across the world, democracy is in retreat, strongmen take all, and all victories seem pyrrhic.
And yet.
As horsemen of apocalypses gallop all around, young people are finding their own white steeds.
Millennials well know the rituals of candles, placards, and posters. For the Delhi December 2012 rape and murder victim and for Jan Lokpal, against mob lynching and CAA-NRC, they poured out with hurt, anger, and shocked heartbreak. Gen Z seems over the relationship. They are in the post-heartbreak stage — they have rage, punchlines, and panache.
All over the country, young people are picking up the Constitution in an era that has glorified the gun. The current protest is particularly heartening in that it is for the right to vote. A generation fed the seductive tales of macho strongmen is agitating, peacefully, for democracy, against exclusion, for the right to be counted and heard.
Millennials were known for avocado and a certain shade of pink, but we proved that we would show up when it mattered. Crying, probably, but we would show up.
Gen Z was known for brainrot and doomscrolling, but they have given hope that the revolution will be live-streamed, and with kickass captions. Maybe, Aditie, everything is eventually gonna be okay.
The writer is senior assistant editor at indianexpress.com. yashee.s@indianexpress.com
