Most portrayals of law in Hindi films has been showing law as being formal, rigid. It shows how the law bends people's spirits and how "justice" is often not found through the law. Contrast this to some of the movies in Hollywood... A Few Good Men, 12 Angry Men, Erin Brockovich and others where the adversarial system seems to be shown to deliver. Do the difference in these portrayals affect how the people of India and America view the law? How much are these narratives also affected by the new medium of TV debates, also called media trials? Again, it raises the question not only of how much TV debates affect the population, but also how the media affects lawmaking and the judiciary.
Narrative jurisprudence, legal storytelling are apparently becoming important facets of teaching law in the US. In India, not so much. The "false and pernicious" dichotomy that exists between the practice of law and the way movies portray law may not exist in India...but for the opposite reason. Not because of the use of storytelling techniques in courtrooms (which may exist, and need to be analyzed more) but because of the negative portrayals of law in Bollywood.
This is one of the paradoxes that our country faces today - a population that is more and more disillusioned of the law, and yet, increasingly obsessed with using only the law to resolve all conflicts, and finds it difficult to imagine non-conventional, non-legal ways of conflict resolution.
Narrative jurisprudence, legal storytelling are apparently becoming important facets of teaching law in the US. In India, not so much. The "false and pernicious" dichotomy that exists between the practice of law and the way movies portray law may not exist in India...but for the opposite reason. Not because of the use of storytelling techniques in courtrooms (which may exist, and need to be analyzed more) but because of the negative portrayals of law in Bollywood.
This is one of the paradoxes that our country faces today - a population that is more and more disillusioned of the law, and yet, increasingly obsessed with using only the law to resolve all conflicts, and finds it difficult to imagine non-conventional, non-legal ways of conflict resolution.
