Amitabh Bachchan airs Bollywood's pain as he talks about censorship and moral policing

The anguish of Bollywood came to the fore in the inaugural address of Kolkata film festival when the veteran actor  Amitabh Bachchan chose to speak about the censorship that is taking away creative freedom and jeopardizing freedom of speech. Though it was a veiled attack, he did not mince words in saying that jingoism was ruling the cinema world today which is detrimental to the film industry. He also talked about the need to have an inclusive environment in which all shades of opinion could grow and find a voice. He implored his fraternity to fall back upon the three stalwarts of the cinema, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, and Ritwik Ghatak whose films he said showed society as it was and did not bother about the consequences. Shahrukh Khan whose film ‘Pathan’ is in the eye of a storm also talked about the need to have a robust system where a multitude of voices and ideologies thrived. While Amitabh Bachchan emphasized free speech, and censorship in the film industry, superstar Shah Rukh Khan spoke about the “narrowness” driving social media.

Bollywood is going through a tough time. Most films it produces are tanking at the box office. Not because the film standards are down or people’s tastes have changed but because a large section, politically motivated, is trying to choke it to death. While some films which are pro-Hindutva and harp upon the Hindu-Muslim division, historical or contemporary, are allowed and even promoted the other films which go against it are subjected to boycott campaigns.  Shahrukh Khan Starrer “Pathan” is being targeted  because it has Shahrukh Khan in it and allegedly Deepika Padukone is part of ‘tukde tukde gang’. The righwing would like to dethrone the Khans from the industry. But that doesn’t seem to be working as the popularity of Khans remains intact despite the propaganda against them. The fact remains that when you ban or boycott a film you don’t work only against the filmmaker or the actors but also hundreds of people whose effort goes into the making of the film. When films don’t earn money, it is they  who are out of the job and suffer. This is truer when unemployment is at an all-time high and economic growth is slowing down. It is about time we think about the direction we are going in. Do we want to live in a country where only one philosophy, one ideology flourishes and others are censored, or gagged to death?

Amitabh Bachchan airs Bollywood's pain as he talks about censorship and moral policing

The anguish of Bollywood came to the fore in the inaugural address of Kolkata film festival when the veteran actor  Amitabh Bachchan chose to speak about the censorship that is taking away creative freedom and jeopardizing freedom of speech. Though it was a veiled attack, he did not mince words in saying that jingoism was ruling the cinema world today which is detrimental to the film industry. He also talked about the need to have an inclusive environment in which all shades of opinion could grow and find a voice. He implored his fraternity to fall back upon the three stalwarts of the cinema, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, and Ritwik Ghatak whose films he said showed society as it was and did not bother about the consequences. Shahrukh Khan whose film ‘Pathan’ is in the eye of a storm also talked about the need to have a robust system where a multitude of voices and ideologies thrived. While Amitabh Bachchan emphasized free speech, and censorship in the film industry, superstar Shah Rukh Khan spoke about the “narrowness” driving social media.

Bollywood is going through a tough time. Most films it produces are tanking at the box office. Not because the film standards are down or people’s tastes have changed but because a large section, politically motivated, is trying to choke it to death. While some films which are pro-Hindutva and harp upon the Hindu-Muslim division, historical or contemporary, are allowed and even promoted the other films which go against it are subjected to boycott campaigns.  Shahrukh Khan Starrer “Pathan” is being targeted  because it has Shahrukh Khan in it and allegedly Deepika Padukone is part of ‘tukde tukde gang’. The righwing would like to dethrone the Khans from the industry. But that doesn’t seem to be working as the popularity of Khans remains intact despite the propaganda against them. The fact remains that when you ban or boycott a film you don’t work only against the filmmaker or the actors but also hundreds of people whose effort goes into the making of the film. When films don’t earn money, it is they  who are out of the job and suffer. This is truer when unemployment is at an all-time high and economic growth is slowing down. It is about time we think about the direction we are going in. Do we want to live in a country where only one philosophy, one ideology flourishes and others are censored, or gagged to death?