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Journalism of Courage
Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan Thursday flagged the issue of free speech, and censorship in the film industry over the years, and superstar Shah Rukh Khan spoke about the “narrowness” driving social media. They were speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival, which was also attended by West Bengal Governor Dr C V Ananda Bose, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, actors Rani Mukerji and Shatrughan Sinha, and leading personalities of the Bengali film industry.
Bachchan referred to the history of censorship in Indian cinema, and said, “Even now, I’m sure my colleagues on stage would agree, questions are being raised on civil liberties and freedom of expression.”
Shah Rukh Khan, who is awaiting the release of his next film “Pathaan”, spoke about how social media is “driven by narrowness of views”. And signed off with a dialogue from “Pathaan”: “Apni kursi ki peti bandh lijiye, mausam bigadne-wala hai (Fasten your seat belt, the weather is about to get rough).”
Khan’s comments come against the backdrop of calls on social media for a boycott of “Pathaan” over the costumes worn by him and Deepika Padukone in the video of a song that has been released online.
“Cinema and advent of articulation through social media platforms have now become the foremost expression of human emotions and experience. The collective narrative of our times is shaped by social media and contrary to the belief that the spread of social media will affect the cinema negatively, I believe cinema has an even more important role to play now,” Khan said.
The need of the hour, he said, was to build a better world for the future generation by “using the power of cinema as a vehicle for people of different cultures, colours, castes and religions to better understand each other”. “Through endeavours like KIFF, the endeavour is to build new platforms to break existing prejudices,” he said.
In his address, Bachchan wondered aloud about whether Satyajit Ray’s reaction to the current scenario would be much like that of the protagonist of his 1990 film, “Ganashatru”.
“One of his later films, “Ganashatru”, can be taken as an indication of how Ray may have reacted to current times. In this chamber drama, about a jaundice epidemic caused by water contamination that is suppressed by both the state and the local temple, Dr Asok Gupta (the protagonist) becomes the enemy of the people, fighting for justice,” he said.
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