{"id":6061,"date":"2016-07-07T21:35:09","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T16:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6061"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:00:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:30:06","slug":"20-years-of-phir-bhi-dil-hai-hindustani-caa-godi-media-srk-juhi-chawla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061","title":{"rendered":"20 Years of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani: In the Age of CAA and \u201cGodi Media\u201d, this SRK Film Seems Prophetic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<span class=\"dropcap\">I<\/span>n a scene from Aziz Mirza\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an exasperated Commissioner of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/series\/true-crime\/police-sketch-artist\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Police<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> confides in his subordinates about the pressures of his job, \u201cJo kursi pe baithta hai bas nachna chahta hai.\u201d The admission is meant for comic effect because it culminates in the laughably Shakespearan quandary \u201cMain kiska aadmi hoon? Main aadmi hoon bhi ya nahi.\u201d Yet there is something troubling and revealing in his anger about the ways the Indian police has always been a pawn in the hands of its political masters.\n\nFast forward to 20 years later and reality seems unchanged from the sentiment of that outburst of anger. For all the protests in the country, the police force has offered a severely compromised and partisan image of itself. As <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> shows, instruments of the state, dunked in their power, can often forget the share of accountability they owe to the people. It exhibits the grim alliance between power and state machinery and the fact that, when both collude to disruptive and unconstitutional effect like the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/students-government-greatest-opposition-caa-nrc-jnu-jamia\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CAA-NRC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> hopes to do, it falls to the average citizen to stand up, protest, and prevent it from happening. For the Indian police has crucially been trained to target the constitutionally provided right to peacefully protest.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1579529734.jpg\" alt=\"PBDHH\" width=\"724\" height=\"407\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-58398\" \/>\n<figcaption>\n<p>In <em>Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani<\/em> Shah Rukh Khan plays Ajay Bakshi, a charismatic TV reporter whose popularity is akin to that of a Bollywood celebrity.<\/p>\n<p>Dreamz Unlimited\/ Red Chillies Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n<i>Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was the first film <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/is-the-myth-of-shah-rukh-khan-all-that-is-left-of-srk\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shah Rukh Khan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> produced under his banner, Red Chillies. In it Khan plays Ajay Bakshi, a charismatic TV reporter whose popularity is akin to that of a Bollywood celebrity. Incidentally, the channel he works for, toes the government\u2019s narrative. The charisma and likeability notwithstanding, you wouldn\u2019t have to look too far to find examples of similar stooges sitting in TV studios today, ready to toot the government\u2019s horn and endorse their preaching. To counter Bakshi\u2019s popularity, a rival channel ropes in the talented Ria Banerjee (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/ek-ladki-ko-dekha-toh-aisa-laga-juhi-chawla\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Juhi Chawla<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">). As the two compete for prime-time eyeballs, they begin to unearth an ideological soul in each other. The murder of an opposition leader\u2019s brother, becomes a flashpoint in the film. Rather than convict the killer (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/paresh-rawal-arundhanti-roy-twitter-hera-pheri\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paresh Rawal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), politicians on both sides see in it the possibility of electoral gain and instead decide to milk it.\u00a0\n\nSoon, flashy, funny exposes give way to existential dread. As they fall in love with each other, both Ajay and Ria confront the basic necessities of their job \u2013 speaking truth to power. In flashes, the film casts a scathing eye on the role politicians play in inciting and encouraging violence: Paid <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/caa-protests-has-the-older-generation-let-down-indias-youth\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">goons<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are hired by a politician to orchestrate riots while his opponent tells the commissioner to fabricate an inquiry \u2013 \u201cInn dangon ko mazhabi rang de do ilzaam uspe daal do,\u201d he adds without flinching an eye. It is chilling, even in retrospect, that India seems not to have descended but only realised the script of Mirza\u2019s film. From the PM claiming that protestors (defined as rioters in the government\u2019s book) can be <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/politics\/prime-minister-modi-nrc-caa-new-year-2020-economy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">identified \u201cby their clothes\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to colouring protests as \u201cHinduphobic,\u201d politicians who ought to offer explanations have instead resorted to altering and colouring the narrative. A false <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/amitmalviya\/status\/1217505504915873792?s=20\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recent Twitter trend started by the BJP\u2019s IT cell,<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for example, attempted to claim that the women protesting at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/gender\/shaheen-bagh-dadis-mothers-anti-caa-the-strength-of-women-protesters\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shaheen Bagh<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were doing it for \u20b9500 a day. As it stands today, and as the film said over 20 years ago, politicians and their lackeys have become puppeteers, and institutions of law and justice their actors.\u00a0\n\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p>It\u2019s difficult to ignore that <em>Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani<\/em> offered rare social commentary that continues to be relevant even today.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nIn that sense, it\u2019s difficult to ignore that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">offered rare social commentary that continues to be relevant even today. For example, when it is revealed that the identity of the assassin could hurt both politicians, the one in power and the one in opposition, it is mutually agreed upon to give the issue \u201cnationalistic\u201d colour and declare the suspect a \u201cterrorist\u201d. It seems eerily reminiscent of the strong-arm politics of today where patriotism has itself become a pitch, a strategy. Take for instance, the moment when <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/satire\/deepika-padukone-tukde-tukde-gang-chhapaak-bollywood\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deepika Padukone<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> chose to stand in solidarity alongside students who had been assaulted by goons at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/jnu-attack-how-did-indias-unarmed-students-become-the-countrys-biggest-threat\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">JNU<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; she was instantly labelled an anti-national\u201d and a member of the \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/urban-naxal-uapa-arrests-bhima-koregaon\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tukde tukde gang<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d. There were even calls to boycott her film <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/deepika-padukone-chhapaak-parvathy-uyare-acid-attack-survivors\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chhapaak<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/i>\n\nEventually, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">culminates into a third act that sees Ajay and Ria transform into activists rather than just being passive journalists. Like protestors across the country today, they take to the streets. Since cinema comes with the prerequisite of being dramatic, both Ria and Ajay call for an immediate gathering and are duly answered. In reality, protests are slow, trying and testing, and not without the sacrifice of time, space and health as many of us have learnt over the past few books. Both however, are products of oppressive and deaf governance; an act of defiance in response to being unheard, unacknowledged, and repeatedly let down. Despite its flaws, the film\u2019s subtext does honour codes of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/politics\/government-institution-cbi-rbi-pillars-of-democracy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">democracy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, of the right to protest and stand against the state\u2019s actions.\u00a0\u00a0\n\nYet, the biggest argument for<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani\u2019s<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> relevance today can be perfectly summed up in one scene where the state governor asks the commissioner whether the protestors are Hindu or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/india-muslim-community-not-in-my-name-protests-lynching-quran\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Muslim<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u201cAaj ye na Hindu hai na Muslim hain sir. Aaj ye Hindustani hain,\u201d he replies, gloatingly, relieved to have found India\u2019s soul. It is this soul today that is being threatened by suppressing peaceful protests. It is this organic unity, this alliance of love and empathy that is the underlying message of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a long forgotten piece of cinema, and the country it tried to imagine.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twenty years ago, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani that starred Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, featured a news channel that toed the government\u2019s narrative and paid goons hired by a politician to orchestrate riots. It ends on a positive note where codes of democracy are honoured and protestors usher in a change. Today, as the entire country protests against the CAA-NRC, the film\u2019s subtext has never been more relevant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":6064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[10033,9788,7501,9755,10034,4510,152,9814],"class_list":["post-6061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bollywood","tag-20-years-of-phir-bhi-dil-hai-hindustani","tag-caa","tag-juhi-chawla","tag-nrc","tag-phir-bhi-dil-hai-hindustani","tag-protests","tag-shah-rukh-khan","tag-student-protests"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>20 Years of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani: In the Age of CAA and \u201cGodi Media\u201d, this SRK Film Seems Prophetic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Twenty years ago, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani that starred Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, featured a news channel that toed the government\u2019s narrative and paid goons hired by a politician to orchestrate riots. 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Today, as the entire country protests against the CAA-NRC, the film\u2019s subtext has never been more relevant.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Manik Sharma","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061"},"author":{"name":"Manik Sharma","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76"},"headline":"20 Years of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani: In the Age of CAA and \u201cGodi Media\u201d, this SRK Film Seems Prophetic","datePublished":"2016-07-07T16:05:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T16:30:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061"},"wordCount":1020,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1579529763.png","keywords":["20 Years Of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani","CAA","Juhi Chawla","NRC","Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani","Protests","Shah Rukh Khan","Student Protests"],"articleSection":["Bollywood"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061","name":"20 Years of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani: In the Age of CAA and \u201cGodi Media\u201d, this SRK Film Seems Prophetic","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1579529763.png","datePublished":"2016-07-07T16:05:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T16:30:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76"},"description":"Twenty years ago, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani that starred Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, featured a news channel that toed the government\u2019s narrative and paid goons hired by a politician to orchestrate riots. It ends on a positive note where codes of democracy are honoured and protestors usher in a change. Today, as the entire country protests against the CAA-NRC, the film\u2019s subtext has never been more relevant.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1579529763.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1579529763.png","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6061#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"20 Years of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani: In the Age of CAA and \u201cGodi Media\u201d, this SRK Film Seems Prophetic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76","name":"Manik Sharma","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Manik Sharma"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=137"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1579529763.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6063,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061\/revisions\/6063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}