Maharaj – Netflix’s latest Hindumisic attempt – starring Amir Khan’s son

There have been multiple calls for OTT content to be regulated, all for good reason. OTT content providers tend to get away with anti-national, adharmic, and even sleazy content and make a lot of money in the process. Netflix is a serial offender when it comes to Hindumisic content. Time and again, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti has brought Netflix’s transgressions to the fore (Read here). Now Netflix is launching yet another Hindumisic movie titled Maharaj, the debut of Junaid Khan (actor Amir Khan’s son), on June 14th, 2024.

Maharaj is reportedly based on the 1862 Maharaja Libel Case. Superficially while the case seems to be that of a conscientious journalist exposing a fraud godman, a little digging will show you that this was one of the earliest attacks on Hindu Dharma by a set of laws that were framed by people whose culture does not even have an equivalent term for Dharma. The following excerpts from the court proceedings will make it clear –

1. Sir Joseph Arnould (one of the two judges in the Bombay High Court bench before whom the case was being argued) admits – We don’t know what heterodoxy is, and we don’t know what heresy is; for we don’t know what the Shastras themselves are.
   – and yet the Court would go on to interpret Dharmik practices of Hindus! Now did the court call upon experts to help them? Of course, they did. Missionary experts who were considered Indologists were their experts. Not Acharyas, not Shankaracharyas, who are authoritative figures, but self-proclaimed Indologists. (Astute readers may see that the situation has not changed in the 160 years since. You have the likes of RS Sharma, and Romila Thapar who tried their level best to prove ShriRam is a mythical character and were treated as experts!)
2. Sir Matthew Sausse (the other judge), in his judgement, says – All songs connected with the God Krishna, which were brought before us were of an amorous character. In these songs, as well as in stories, both written and traditional[,] the subject of sexual intercourse is most prominent.
   It is Krishna, the darling of the 16,000 Gopees; Krishna the love-hero – the husband of the 16,000 princesses, who is the paramount object of Vallabhacharya’s worship. This tinges the whole system with the stain of carnal sensualism, of strange, transcendental lewdness. See, for instance, how the sublime Brahminical doctrine of unition with “Brahma” is tainted and degraded mode of regarding the Deity. … The teachers of the Vallabhacharyan sect do not absolutely discard this great tenet, but they degrade it. This is what distortion is. Hindu Dharma has innumerable paths to God (Moksha). One among them is Bhaktimarg / Bhaktiyoga. Even in Bhaktiyoga, there are numerous ways of expressing Bhakti (for want of a better term, we can say devotion). You can be a friend like Arjuna, you can be a servitor like the great Hanuman, or you can spend a lifetime in wait of God like Sabari. The laws that were forced by the British on us, or the lawmakers who framed these laws have no clue about the nuances of Hindu Dharma. So someone looking at Hindu Dharma from the narrow field of vision accorded by these laws is bound to see a twisted, demented picture. This is precisely what happened in the Maharaj libel case. See how Shri Krishna, who gave the world Bhagavadgita is labelled a common Romeo by the ‘learned’ judge. (Again, astute readers will note that even today the Indian laws similarly treat Hindu Dharma, trying to interpret Dharma using archaic laws and myopic present-day sensibilities.)

The poster for Maharaj shows a tilak-sporting, tuft-bearing man (presumably the Maharaj) on one side, while there is a sharply dressed young man (Amir Khan’s son Junaid, presumably a journalist) on the other. No guesses for what is going to happen in this movie. The same Hindumisic arguments that were recorded in the Maharaj Libel Case will now be shown on media consumed by millions. Another Maharaj (Hindu Guru) will be shown as a sex maniac who uses his power and influence to fuel his ‘carnal desires’. A progressive and ‘samaj sudharak’ journalist will be shown fighting all odds to expose this Maharaj. The take-home message will be that Hindu Dharma is a primitive religion, Hindus don’t know what Hindu Dharma is, and Hindu Gurus are all frauds. Hindu youth who have already strayed from Dharma will become further detached.

https://x.com/GemsOfBollywood/status/1796050995245641847

Remember a scene where an actor dressed as Shiv ji was seen running around scared, hiding in toilets, crying out, because he was being chased by PK (Amir Khan)? Despite fierce opposition from Hindus, PK went on to make over 600 crores. Netflix stands to make a lot of money too. Money that will fuel more such Hindumisic content, which will be watched by children and youth who will then be alienated from the Dharma of their forefathers. Hindus, it is now in your hands to ensure this doesn’t happen. Raise your voice, lest it is buried forever!