This afternoon I was watching RDB on Star and the just deceased Prakash Mehra's Khoon Pasina on Sab. Its a common knowledge that RDB spawned entire generation of conscientious citizens who were unwilling to take injustice lying down. Candle-light vigils, protests and participation did influence the outcome of the high profile Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Matoo murder cases. 
However, what has not been acknowledged much is the role Bollywood movies have played in shaping the cultural paradigm of post-Independence Indian society. For more than 6 decades Indian film-makers have held the twin concepts of socialism and secularism on a sacrosanct level, which has in fact influenced Indian mindset considerably. Pick up a successful film from any period, from Mughal-E-Azam to Jodha-Akbar, you would find the concept of "unity in diversity" very clearly portrayed.
Now back to Khoon Pasina which was so unlike Mughal-E-Azam, Jodha-Akbar or even Rang De Basanti. This Amitabh Bachchan-starrer was a typical commercial thriller of the angry-young-
man genre of movies with liberal doses of violence (mostly fist/knife fights), impromptu singing and dancing and larger-than-life hero (Amitabh mauls a tiger in this flick!). However, even in the midst of these thrilling and sometimes ridiculous plots and scenes the theme remains fiercely socialistic as well as secular. Critics may find many flaws in the movie, right from unrealistic portrayal of characters, stereotyping of certain communities such as Muslims and Thakurs and glorification of repressively chivalrous mindset but the fact remains that at that point of time, such portrayal was most palatable for the non-elite classes and in its own way it added value to India's tolerant and pluralistic cultural values.
man genre of movies with liberal doses of violence (mostly fist/knife fights), impromptu singing and dancing and larger-than-life hero (Amitabh mauls a tiger in this flick!). However, even in the midst of these thrilling and sometimes ridiculous plots and scenes the theme remains fiercely socialistic as well as secular. Critics may find many flaws in the movie, right from unrealistic portrayal of characters, stereotyping of certain communities such as Muslims and Thakurs and glorification of repressively chivalrous mindset but the fact remains that at that point of time, such portrayal was most palatable for the non-elite classes and in its own way it added value to India's tolerant and pluralistic cultural values. Other than Prakash Mehra, film directors such Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Subhas Ghai, Manmohan Desai and scores of directors including those involved in regional languages film industries have been and continue to make movies which critics and mature audience may reject without a second thought but there still exists an audience that is influenced majorly by them and in reinforcing nationalistic, socialistic and secular mindsets they are doing a good job.
The motive of the directors of these genre of movies may have been to reach out to all sections but the fallout was anything but negative. In many ways these movies are like the fabled Indian spices [isn't the word "masala" used in reference to this genre of movies ?;)], hot and not-so-good for health but Indian delicacies would lose their identity without them and they certainly add to nutritional values of the food!
Rang De Basanti may have been the first movie to make such a profound and positive impact on the minds of average Indians but movies like Mother India, Sholay and Amar Akbar Anthony have had their role in shaping India's modern culture and social values and also help develop up inclusive national identity.
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