With an estimated backlog of 40 million cases in various courts across the country, the Supreme Court didn’t want to waste too much time on this petition by Shyam Narayan Chouksey, whose tender patriotic sensibilities were ruffled when he went to see Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G) in theatres. Enraged that no one in the audience stood up when a munchkin (playing Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s London-wallah beta) sang the national anthem in the film, Chouksey approached the Jabalpur Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2002, asking for K3G to be banned. After nine years, Chouksey reached the Supreme Court in September 2016. Lo and behold, three months later, we have a verdict. After all, when it comes to the issue of displaying a “committed sense of patriotism and nationalism”, there is little debate necessary.

To this end, allow us to prove our commitment by placing this strategically at the start of this article since in nine days, every cinema in the country will have to follow the SC’s order and play the national anthem before screening a film.

(We hope you were standing when you clicked ‘play’. If you didn’t click play, shame on you.)

In its magnificent wisdom, the apex court has decided that before every movie, in every hall across India, audiences must be reminded that they are being able to relax and have some fun because the producers and directors of the Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India delivered a smashing hit in August 1947. We’re doing our best to not read into the fact that ten-odd days from now, the two big releases are Rogue One and La La Land. Who said films, or at least their titles, don’t reflect reality?

It would be difficult not to agree with the SC when it observed that, “…when the national anthem is played, it is imperative for everyone to show honour and respect.” Not to belabour the point, but this is, after all, the national anthem. In our films, we’ve been making people sing it and feel tsunami’s of patriotic pride for generations. Take K3G for example, the scene that is at the root of this SC order shows a clutch of British people standing up and paying respect to India because a kid starts singing Jana Gana Mana. The verdict goes on to say, “The assertion is that it is the duty of every person to show respect when the National Anthem is played or recited or sung.”

Excellent point, milord. This seems like a good moment to point out that the SC itself does not play the anthem before the lordships get down to weighty issues of jurisprudence on a daily basis. If you were hoping that Jana Gana Mana was played at least before this verdict was announced, we must shatter your expectations. The anthem barely figures in the rituals that govern our Executive, Legislative and Judiciary. It’s not the soundtrack that marks the start of a Cabinet Meeting, for example, and it’s played just once at the start of a session in Parliament.

According to the SC order, this decision will “instil the feeling within one, a sense committed patriotism and nationalism” (sic). You’d think that our Parliament and Cabinet could do with some of that, given they are the captains of the national and nationalist ship. Then again, when the Court lamented that “…these days, people read things that have nothing to do with nationalism but don’t study material related to nationalism”, it may have been hinting at our honourable parliamentarians. Maybe if the anthem was mandated to play every time there was a disruption or adjournment of the house, we would have far more decorum and dignity in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. We live in hope that someone has petitioned to make this a reality and the SC will drill some nationalism into our MPs.

If the average citizen is “duty-bound to show respect to the national anthem which is the symbol of the constitutional patriotism”, to quote the SC order, then should not our leaders demonstrate by example? Shouldn’t every meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office and every Ministry begin with the national anthem, just to remind all those present that they’re here to serve the nation?

Bottomline: the biggest defaulters as far as singing the National Anthem are the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. I am sure the lordships would agree that these departments could do with showing proof of patriotism and nationalism – just to show the common man how it’s done.

If we as common people need to be reminded that we are Indians in India, while in a cinema hall in India, watching (in all probability) an Indian film, then imagine how critically important this reminder would be for those Indians like our Prime Minister, who is frequently not in India, or in a cinema hall. Those who are doing the work of nation building and don’t have the inclination or time to go to cinemas, surely they need reminders as well. After all, if the SC believes that the average citizen of India is so apathetic and in need of being prodded into patriotism, then surely the nation needs to be lead by example.