Dear Friend Adolf: Brought to you by Bollywood

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From the land of the swastika topic


Booray for Bollywood

I worry about a film on hitler made in countries where there has been no direct consequences of the horrors of nazi germany. It might have been more appropriate for them to make a film about Imperial Japan's Hirohito, being closer to the war with that country. but perhaps it would not be as lucrative, in the Bollywood tradition.

Wow now there's someone you don't wanna resemble.

Even though they weren't involved in the war, there was a consequence to Hindus.

I have a friend who is Hindu. One day she wore a necklace that was a backwards (to my uninformed eyes) swastika made of diamonds (and has worn it daily since I first saw her wear it). I was dumbfounded. I said, "why are you wearing a necklace that is a backwards swastika made of diamonds?" Her answer was that she and many other Hindus were working to reclaim the swastika and set it back right. She knew I would ask. She knew lots of people would ask and she wanted to tell all of us that Hitler stole their religious symbol, flipped it around backwards, and turned it into an international symbol of hate. She wanted it back and wearing that necklace was part of the reclamation she is involved in.

Clearly that's far smaller than being involved in a war, but still, he did steal their religious symbol and pretty much destroy it. It's as though people only thought of the Klu Klux Klan and burning crosses whenever they saw a cross. It was a horrible defamation and degradation of a religious symbol and they are trying to undo the damge of that theft.

Who knows what this director's take will be on this. But if he's Hindu, he's well aware of what Hitler did in the name of that flipped around swastika. It's an ugly thing, like burning crosses. And he may work that in somehow.

How are they going to do the white, aryan family of Goebbels?

Just saw the ad to it and I gotta say....wow.

These are roles about Hitler's love life with Eva. I am a bit curious whether or not they'll glamorize or show the man for what he truly was.

There were several indian divisions of soldiers involved in North Africa and Italian campaigns.

Not forgetting Burma and, on the Axis side, the Indian Legion (made up of Indians who wished to fight against British rule, many of whom served in Normandy.)

As people have said, India was involved, including fighting on Indian soil. More fighting on Indian soil than on US soil, I should think, and you wouldn't call the US uninvolved.

Go away Lonermutant.....go away while you'll you still can.

India--the World's largest Democracy topic

I must admit I was completely baffled by this choice of a subject. But my concern is that many Indians will not understand that Hitler's war was first and foremost a war against Jews and Judaism. It has been 65 years and many young people all over the world do not understand the significance of the Allied victory.

I booed Bollywood for this reason. I have a jaded perspective on how media treats sensitive subjects. I know how emotions can have both positive and negative impacts. Sometimes I am anxious about seemingly trivial things. But I would rather be wrong than right in this case.

Janissy, I have mixed feelings about your friend wearing the swastika, and I do know that the nazis stole that symbol and the concept of aryanism, also from Hinduism. Out of the Hindu context and religion this symbol is frightening to those who lived through the European horror of war.


I also am very skeptical of the title of this soon-to-be-relased film. hitler should not be protrayed as a caring human, and I am hoping the focus will not be just on his love feelings for Eva Braun. Bollywood is famous for its romance films but this one about one of the greatest mass murderers of all time? It could work if done with a very critical eye, and there are many critics who will be analyzing it and voicing their opinions.

I must thank all who have commented. I was aware of India's WW2 contributions, though now I have an even fresher perspective.

Downfall (aside from being a meme-tastic) was an excellent depiction of Hitler for the ass**** that he was.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this film will involve dance routines, and lack the satirical edge that let Mel Brooks get away with it.

My thoughts exactly, but at the same time watching Hitler's general staff break out into a long Bollywood style song and dance routine is completely wrong that it would be a compelling must-see.

Not a friend of Adolf topic

Apparently, the lead actor for the Bollywood hitler movie has bowed out, citing fan disapproval.

Here is a small blurb I got from 20th Century History, a site from which I get a weekly newsletter.

Jennifer Rosenberg wrote:

He will still have to be replaced.

Apparently there is a section of the population of India which actively admires Hitler, ostensibly because of his firm grip on the nation, and his nationalistic drive. They are not without knowledge of the holocaust and other such atrocities of the regime, but rather seek to distinguish between Hitler's home rule and his more...esoteric plans.

Whilst it is possible to see how Hitler was quite efficient at certain things, quite crafty and clever, I suspect "admiration" is the wrong term to be using. After all, he was also a mass-murdering lunatic, and his whole goal for Germany was intrinsically linked to that. Perhaps European history isn't taught as extensively as it should be in India, IDK.

The significance will be different for different people. And the Indian subcontinent has its own recent history of bloody ethnic conflict, most of which is probably little known or understood by most people in the West.