Bollywood films corrupts Malaysia's young Muslims -- clerics
Associated Press

FEB 15: A national body of Muslim clerics has urged the Malaysian government to limit television airtime for Indian-made Hindi movies because they promote "immoral values," news reports today.

Hindi movies are a hit in Malaysia not just among the more than 2 million ethnic Indians who live here, but also other ethnic groups who make up the 22 million population, including the Malay Muslim majority.

Malaysians throng to cinemas to catch latest Indian releases even if they don't understand the dialogue, which is often in Hindi.

Indian movies are generally more tame in terms of sex and obscene words than Hollywood movies, which are usually censored before being shown in Malaysia.

But Harussani Zakaria, spokesman for the Conference of Muftis, said Indian movies contained references to Hindu beliefs which were contrary to those of Islam and could be a bad influence on young Malay Muslims.

"There were some movies which carried excessive immoral values for youngsters to copy," he was quoted as saying by The Star newspaper.

The portrayal of passion on screen could "arouse the viewers to unleash their desires even on their own children," he said, according to the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia daily.

Bollywood films are screened on Malaysian television stations a few times every week. The clerics are asking for this be cut down to once a week.

Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.