Da Vinci Code

#Task given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir

#Da Vinci Code






1. Brown states on his website that his books are not anti-Christian, though he is on a 'constant spiritual journey' himself, and says that his book The Da Vinci Code is simply "an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and suggests that the book may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith."

Yes, we can say that it may be used as positive catalyst of faith. as there are two characters protagonist Robert and antagonist Leigh and both have different intentions for searching of Holy Grail, one after know that secret keep that to him only and not reveal the secret where as other wants to reveal that so faith can be destroyed so there are differences in opinions of both.  Faith in religion which should not be destroyed and which reflect in character of Robert who after knowing the truth did not reveal that.




2. You have studied ‘Genesis’ (The Bible), ‘The Paradise Lost’ (John Milton) and ‘The Da Vinci Code’ (Dan Brown). Which of the narrative/s seem/s to be truthful? Whose narrative is convincing to the contemporary young mind?

As per my point of view, it seems like Da Vinci Code is more relevant with present time or you can say with young India. There are some reasons behind them  and major reason behind that is other works contains the faith in god without questioning them back where as the Da Vinci Code have some different definition for that, that if you can't question anything then how would you be to the point where answers are ling, and these can be mostly related with youth or young India.

3. What harm has been done to humanity by the biblical narration or that of Milton’s in The Paradise Lose? What sort of damage does narrative like ‘The Vinci Code’ do to humanity?

As per my thinking that biblical stories are more about the religion and about how can you be more faithful to them without questing them whereas the novel like "Da Vinci Code" are meant for questioning them as far as religion is concern. There are both positive and negative sides are there. paradises lost is novel by Milton which represt that when you go against the religion it can be harmful in one or another ways, you find that whole mankind is suffering because of disobeying god on another hand Brown in "Da Vinci Code" talks about or showing that questioning religion is bad thing and if you did so then results are not always in the form of punishments when your intention is good.   

4. What difference do you see in the portrayal of 'Ophelia' (Kate Winslet) in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, 'Elizabeth' (Helena Bonham Carter) in Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or 'Hester Prynne' (Demi Moore) in Roland Joffé's The Scarlet Letter' or David Yates's 'Harmione Granger' (Emma Watson) in last four Harry Potter films - and 'Sophie Neuve' (Audrey Tautau) in Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code? How would justify your answer?

Portrayal of women from the very beginning is bit different. nowadays you can find many feminist or you can say feminism is in the air right now. there are writers like Gayatri Spivak, Simone de Beauvoir etc are writing about women existence or arrival in world.  From the time of Shakespeare women somehow portrays wrongly. we can find in Hamlet Ophelia is clearly victimized by hamlet, but later on we can find that there were changes takes places you can find Elizabeth in Frankenstein bit effective then Haster prynne is more powerful but which i find more effective are Harmione and Sophie both who are capable enough to take there stand in society.  

5. Do novel / film lead us into critical (deconstructive) thinking about your religion? Can we think of such conspiracy theory about Hindu religious symbols / myths?

Not exactly conspiracy theory but yes have some doubts on myths have some problem with symbols or you can say have some questions that why that things are like that. like "Shiv ling" as symbol and myths like Ramayana Mahabharata are epics and there were many things which i failed to understand.  

6. Have you come across any similar book/movie, which tries to deconstruct accepted notions about Hindu religion or culture and by dismantling it, attempts to reconstruct another possible interpretation of truth? 

There are many but which i read is "Krushnayan" which deconstruct the idea about  Krishna and his life. and also talks about Dropadi's character that even she has five husband then even she loves Krishna and want him too. This not exactly like Da Vinci Code but it also challenges religion.  

Thank You.