Morality TV and the Loving Jehad: A Thrilling Tale

<strong>Centre for the Study of Social Systems Jawaharlal Nehru University</strong> <strong>Film Screening &amp; Discussion</strong> <strong>Morality TV and the Loving Jehad: A Thrilling Tale</strong> by <strong>Paromita Vohra</strong> (Film Maker, Curator and Writer based in Mumbai) <strong>on March 4, 2015 (Wednesday) 2015</strong> In the winter of 2005 Indians switched on their TV sets to watch yet another "breaking news" story, but one which shocked them. In the town of Meerut, police officers, mostly women, swooped down on lovers in a park and began to beat them up. Along with them they took photographers and news cameramen with the promise of an exclusive sting operation. What is the story of this news story? The film looks outside the frames that weave the frenetic tapestry of Breaking News on India's news channels to uncover a town's complex dynamics – the fear of love, the constant scrutiny and control of women's mobility and sexuality, a history of communal violence, caste brutalization and feudal equations. Assuming the tone of pulp fiction and tabloid features it examines the legacy of this kind of storytelling, from the relishing accounts of true crime magazines like Manohar Kahaniyan to the double morality of pulp detective fiction to the tabloid news on Indian TV, to unfold a thrilling but disturbing tale of its own. As the salacious media frenzy around violent events takes on ever more unscrupulous forms, the story of the film becomes all the more relevant today. Paromita Vohra is a filmmaker, writer, teacher and curator working with fiction and non-fiction.