Morphing and Morpholoy

Transcript

00:00 Outlook brings to you excerpts from its latest issue titled "Omni-Present, Omniscent".

00:06 The issue looks at Modi's personality, his cult and his brand in the light of the recent consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya,

00:14 which also kick-starts the election campaign.

00:17 Modi is an avatar, a statesman, a saint.

00:21 Beyond Hindutva, there is now the Moditva project.

00:25 Morphing and Morphology by Dilip Chherian

00:28 Chherian is India's image guru.

00:31 On an astrologically appropriate date, three months from now, watch every TV channel

00:37 as our new Prime Minister strides towards Parliament just days after having taken his oath of office outside Rajpathi Bhavan.

00:46 The new cabinet has still not been announced, but this is the moment that the faithful have been waiting for.

00:53 The age-defining and historic moment begins as he alone strides forth.

00:58 No one else can match step with him.

01:00 None dare occupy a centre stage, or even be on the edges of that stage he owns.

01:07 His presence alone now keeps away not just intruders and interlopers, but any insiders too.

01:14 For those tuned to listen, there may be sounds of the clanging of temple bells.

01:19 The newly installed Papacy at Ayodhya may symbolically be part of the visual stage setting.

01:26 As India's avowedly most blasé image guru, even I am gobsmacked by the sheer scale of each spectacle.

01:34 This is a practised and almost holy ritual.

01:38 For observers like me, it is by now a familiar visual, but enhanced each time.

01:44 This one is several notches above its last outing.

01:47 By now, even his closest claimants have realised that he is at his best alone, unalloyed.

01:55 Best by himself, with no props, and most certainly, walk within seven paces.

02:01 These images and the prolonged surround sound inevitably raise the question

02:07 whether this imagery is indeed par for the course as far as India is concerned.

02:13 Does India fangirl only to images of a strong and powerful leader?

02:18 Of those who stride alone like a colossus across our landscape and mesmerise the largest population on earth?

02:25 Like the reality show, do we need the complete and total sound and sight of just one big boss?

02:33 Whether it's a giant like Jawaharlal Nehru or his successor like Indira Gandhi.

02:39 Whether it's a doughty farmer like Charan Singh or a grisly newbie like Chandrashekhar.

02:45 The images of the powerful in India have always been frighteningly similar and mostly solo acts.

02:53 They've all got immense presence, a certain mesmerising quality,

02:57 an isolationist stance that defies any easy definition.

03:02 Of course, there have been exceptions.

03:05 From the diminutive Shastri to the tremulous Manmohan and the joined at the hip Vajpayee,

03:11 all of whom flaunted partnerships.

03:14 But those are not examples that matter now.

03:17 For this and more, read the latest issue of Outlook.