Pathan moviegoers are like the Roman mob
By Justice Markandey Katju
The huge crowds going to watch the film Pathan remind me of the Roman mob after Caesar’s funeral, as depicted by Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar.
After Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s famous speech which whipped up the Roman mob into a fury, the bloodthirsty mob went around seeking revenge against the conspirators who murdered Caesar.
One of the conspirators was a man called Cinna. The mob caught hold of a man who was also named Cinna. He protested that he was Cinna the poet, not Cinna the conspirator. People in the mob shouted ” Then hang him for his bad verses “‘, and he was lynched.
I wrote this article giving my reasons why I oppose the film
I little realised that I was speaking to a Roman mob, to whom no amount of reasoning prevails. Far from giving their counter reasons, those who commented on my fb post almost treated me like Cinna the poet. There was a torrent of abusive comments and invectives, which I had to delete.
Maybe if I had been physically present among them they may have treated me the same way that Cinna the poet was treated.
That is why I have said that whereas earlier I thought 90% Indians were fools, after the release of Pathan that estimate has gone up to 95%.