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ShareNaseeruddin Shah on India's religious divide, Bollywood greed, and ending on a strong note
Post-IPL, what do you think is the state of cricket in India? Is there too much money in the game?
I don't resent, for one second, the money the players are making. They deserve every penny of it. It's the youngsters who garner attention, and that's tremendous. I don't understand why the giants of the game, who have enough money, are bothered by this. I didn't really watch the IPL.
I watched it only when Shane Warne was bowling and Adam Gilchrist was batting, or when Muralitharan was bowling and Sangakkara was batting. I feel that IPL is made in the TV form...it's entertainment. It's made like the WWE. Soon we'll have staged fights between rival players. I think that the cameramen were being selective and shooting only the sections of the stadium that were aggressive. There is a sense of aggression when India plays Pakistan or Australia.
What was the reaction in Pakistan to Khuda Kay Liye? Did you visit Pakistan after the movie released?
The reaction was absolutely unbelievable. In Pakistan, the theatres are very tacky, badly equipped, there is no air conditioning and rats run across your feet. They are like those old theatres that we still have in towns like Aligarh and Meerut.
There are no multiplexes, no places where a person could go with the family. Yet, this movie ran in theatres to packed houses for over 100 days. It was released at the same time the Lal Masjid incident occurred. Whether that was engineered or not, I don't know. The Lal Masjid incident happened on July 20. I remember it because it was my birthday and the film released on the same day.
Now I think the government was behind it - backing it - which is why it overrode all objections made by the madarsas. The director and some of the actors received threats. Therefore, I credit them doubly for having the courage to do the film. I was recognised everywhere I went in Pakistan: People would hug me and thank me for making this film. It was more than mere sentiment, and therefore it appealed to people.
The film was well researched. I consider it to be the most significant film I have ever made, despite the brevity of the role. Initially, I turned the film down. I turned it down because I had seen Pakistani movies. But the scenes that were narrated to me were hair-raising, and these are exactly the things that matter to me.
I did a thorough study of Islam. I learned the Koran in my childhood because I was made to. We still don't feel the need to tell our children the meaning of what we read. We just memorise it like drill and recite it when there is a need to. That's all we are taught. This must end.
The Muslim children must be taught what it means. There I was, a 5-year-old child, and was told by the maulavi that 'every kaafir will go to hell, every Muslim will got to hell. When you grow up you must grow your beard and wear a pyjama'. And such related stuff.
The movie reached more people than my other movies - such as Nishaant - did. Nishaant was also human-centric. There is a worldwide obsession with Islam. There is a hatred for Islam, which is unreasonable, biased and unfair.
What bothers me most of all, as a Muslim, however, is this seemingly rising awareness in youngsters of their identity as Muslims. The rising awareness doesn't bother me as much as their misdirection. It's almost as if they are vigorously trying to compensate for the shortcomings in their own lives, by living in the hereafter.
It seems to be happening a lot among Muslims. You see much more of an assertion of Muslim identity over the last 10 years; you hear many more salaam walekums than you heard earlier; you see many more men visibly sporting beards during namaaz. I suppose the same thing is happening among the Hindus.
I don't know if it's a good thing because I'm really curious - particularly among the young Muslim men who are turning devout - whether there is, in fact, a deep study of Islam taking place, or is it just the rewards of what await believers after death that is attracting them. These are the kind of things that worry me.
I think I can say this without offending Hindus and Muslims that you need more awareness of the world and you must learn to interpret the vision according to the needs of the modern day. It's, in fact, very puzzling as to why this is happening. If you've traveled to the US and have been hassled by immigration because of your name, then I can also sort of understand that angle.
Do you think that - at least in India or perhaps the subcontinent - we are ignoring the sane voice that understands the worldliness essential for living and also understanding religion?
Nobody speaks up against this absurd Member of Parliament who offered a crore of rupees for the head of the Danish cartoonist. Where did this man get a crore of rupees is a question nobody has asked.
That seems of no importance: He has offended our sentiments and so he must die. The alarming thing is that you find so many people willing to do this. It can be downright frivolous for someone like me to stand up and talk against this person. So what are we to do if we are not activists, nor are we soldiers?
