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"I'm not against the police; I'm just afraid of them."
When Alfred Hitchcock said this, he had probably not overdosed himself with Indian movies that have been accused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of focusing only on bad cops.
For those who kept themselves away from news on a lazy Sunday, a little context would be helpful: Prime Minister Modi has said cinema has created a "very bad image" of the police in the minds of the common man.
At the 49th annual conference of DGPs hosted by the Intelligence Bureau in Guwahati, Modi said: "The film industry has created a very bad image of the police in the minds of the common man and I ask them why? Yes, there may be some shortcomings, but should only that be highlighted? Is it not our duty to remove these shortcomings by bringing into light the positive and good things.
"The image of films on the common man is immense and without their cooperation, policing cannot be successful. We must think about long-term strategy to change the thoughts and perception of the common people based on reality."
You ask anybody in this country. Most of the people will tell you: if you can, stay as far as possible from the police.
The common man is not hallucinating when he thinks the police cannot be trusted. Even in a survey by Transparency International and the Centre for Media Studies, the police topped the list on both perception of corruption and actual experience with corruption.
Therefore, it is unwise to say that cinema shows the police in a bad light. Our movies represent the society; not so much the other way round. People have made their opinions about cops on the basis of their experiences with them; not what they saw in a movie.
The common man in India wants to keep himself away from the police, and it is ridiculous to blame film-makers for it. This is like saying brides are ill-treated in Indian households because of saas-bahu serials. Going by this trend, the Prime Minister may even suggest one day that politicians are being vilified by our movies 'despite the fact that they are apostles of virtues'.
It surprises me that Narendra Modi made no mention of the fact that politicians have deliberately deprived the police of a decent lifestyle and kept them underpaid in order to ensure they can buy their loyalty by throwing a few coins at them. In the words of a senior police officer on Aamir Khan's TV show, Satyamev Jayate, the police are nothing but 'shikari kutta' (hunting dogs) of politicians. The PM did not touch upon the fact that politicians control the lives of policemen and interfere with their work.
Now, look at these figures: the number of policemen per 100,000 people in India in 2011 was 137. This compares to about 217 in Australia, 393 in Hong Kong, 370 in Malaysia, 195 in South Korea, 307 in the UK and 256 in USA. Clearly, our guys are overworked. They have no life. Manpower is a problem. It's unfortunate that the PM made no mention of this.
According to the Prime Minister, the police should be 'SMART'. "By 'SMART' policing, I mean S for strict but sensitive, M for modern and mobile, A for alert and accountable, R for reliable and responsive and T for techno-savvy and trained," Modi said. But he left out a few crucial things: reducing their workload, improving their work conditions, and allowing them professional freedom.
Too much to ask for, sir?
I am no expert on police matters, but I can say if the government is interested in reforming the force, they should get down to brass tacks. In my opinion, the process should begin with something as basic as a change in the colour of their uniform, which over the years has instilled a sense of fear in the common man, forcing him to lose faith in a policeman's ability to be fair and just.
Nevertheless, it's heartening to see that the Prime Minister has spoken so openly about improving a key pillar of our democracy. It should start soon. Else, two things may happen: first, the movies portraying the police in a negative light will give more credence to the theory that most of our cops are wicked; and second, actor Jack Nicholson will have more Indian followers, because he once said: "There're only two people in your life you should lie to... your girlfriend and the police."
