Manto director Nandita Das opined that democracy in India is under terrible threat. With artists, writers and rationalists being cornered and attacked in some form or the other, she stressed that the right-wing groups, who give a whole new spin to any social issue, are almost becoming the country’s moral police.
Be it the growing intolerance in India, the agitation around the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Padmaavat or the occasional ban on Pakistani actors working in Indian films, the question about India’s creative freedom is always put under the spotlight. “These days whether it is media or individuals, people are being censored by self-proclaimed vigilante groups or are self-censoring themselves, out of fear,” Nandita told IANS.
The actress further added that when there is political tension, culture usually becomes the means to bring people closer, lessen prejudice and trigger conversations.
Comparing her forthcoming film Manto with the current scenario, Nandita said: “Manto was tried for obscenity six times because he wrote about sex workers, giving them dignity that was rare and used the language of the street, deemed inappropriate. He said, ‘If you can’t bear my stories, it is because we live in unbearable times’.”
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Nandita, who won critically appreciation for films like Earth and Bawandar, pointed out the need to to fight terrorism. Stating that art can become the perfect medicine to our common wounds. “Fight governments that encourage it instead of stopping it, but we also need to have the wisdom to separate the people from those governments. People are suffering there too,” she said.