Banning art in the age of internet is a farce: Nandita Das

In a freewheeling conversation about her forthcoming film on Urdu writer

Saadat Hasan Manto

, actress and director Nandita Das spoke about

Manto

's relevance in today's world.

"I felt Manto was a way to respond to today, to our own unrest because he was so ahead of his times. He was modern. It is as if he was responding to today's issues of identity, freedom of expression, displacement, personal angst and what an artist feels."

Das also revealed that the film focuses on Manto's life, the two years before and after the Partition, and explore the question of why the writer migrated from his beloved city Bombay to Lahore. Yet, rather than being a big film on Partition, Das said that Manto (the movie) is an intimate portrayal of the author as a writer, husband and father, which weaves in his short stories into the narrative. "It is not a typical biopic. These were the most difficult and traumatic years of his life," Das said. "He took the whole partition extremely personally. It was a perceived sense of betrayal that made him go. It had to be impulsive decision."

Das also spoke about the trouble she faced while releasing her directorial debut Firaaq on the aftermath of the Gujarat riots in 2009, just before the 2009 Lok Sabaha elections. "We did premieres and it got released but all the marketing suddenly stopped," Das recalled. "But it wasn't released properly. Social media has democratised the whole process. Firaaq happened before all of this."

Recalling her experience with Fire and Water, Das also responded to the ongoing controversy over Padmavati. "Whether it is a book, a film, or a painting, what are we banning, what are we stopping? In the age of internet, where everything is freely available, what kind of a farce is this?" Das said. "There is enough room for dissent. When I see deeply regressive portrayal of women on films and television, it deeply offends me. But how I am going to break things, banning then, or issuing death threats?"

She went on to highlight the need to stand up for the freedom of expression. "It is time we speak up because people are going to tell us what to wear, whom to talk to and what to eat," Das added. "What can a two-hour film do? It is going to be a very dangerous trend. Art doesn’t create revolutions, but it subliminally goes into consciousness -- the good and the bad. Till we don’t see multiple points of views on anything how are we going to make an informed choice? People will misuse freedom but we cannot throw the baby with the bath water. We need to give the freedom to everyone and increase our discerning qualities."

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