When I was fifteen years old, one day a fortune-teller woman from Tamil Nadu came to our house. I was then preparing for my tenth-grade examinations, and my thirteen-year-old younger brother and I were playing in the courtyard. Both of us watched her conversation and interactions with great curiosity. Since it was exam season, we even tried to have her read our palms to find out whether we would pass. But when our father saw this, he scolded us.
Immediately, the woman requested our father to extend his hand and said she could predict his future. Displeased with this, our father reacted sharply, saying, “You or my hand?” As students, my brother and I could hear in our father’s response the voice of moral conviction. The lesson our father taught us was one of morality—he considered even the thought of a wandering fortune-teller touching his hand as unacceptable.
In the 39th chapter of the Book of Genesis, there’s a powerful theme that teaches a great moral truth. When our forefather Joseph, who had been sold as a slave, arrived in Egypt, he was bought by Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. Because Potiphar liked Joseph very much, he entrusted him with the supervision of his house and everything he owned. Joseph, being well-built and handsome, caught the desire of Potiphar’s wife.
Even though she repeatedly asked him to lie with her, Joseph did not yield. Joseph replied thus: “Because of me, my master pays no attention to anything in the house; he has entrusted everything he has to my care. No one in this house is greater than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
Every day she continued to plead with Joseph to lie with her, but Joseph refused even to be near her. One day, when things did not go her way, she grabbed his cloak. Leaving the cloak in her hands, Joseph quickly fled from the house. Taking advantage of the situation, she complained to her husband that the Hebrew servant he had brought into the house tried to insult her.
Infuriated by this, Potiphar threw Joseph into prison. This incident teaches us a profound truth: even a slave boy possessed moral consciousness that was absent in the palace-dwelling mistress!
Today, in our culture, cinema exerts a powerful influence on all sections of society, especially children and youth. It is a fact that in many scenes crafted to attract viewers, there exists vulgarity and immorality. Beyond that, the revelations made by actors themselves to the public and in complaints to authorities suggest that their personal lives too often do not follow the straight path.
The stories presented through films should be such that they lead viewers towards goodness. More importantly, the actors portraying noble roles on screen should also safeguard moral values in their personal lives. People generally admire those who act in films. That very fact gives actors the ability to exert great influence over their audience.
May all actors live holy lives with the conviction that they have received a special call from God to impart good values to society. May they be able to present sacred themes through cinema. I extend my heartfelt wishes and prayers for the same.
Bishop Sebastian Vaniyapurakal
