'It's time to change cinema, and society'

I’ve been troubled  about various things in our socio-political  system. The happenings of the last few months  have made us all sit up and take note and vent our anger. At least now the nation has come to a dialogue. Thanks to the overall conscientiousness of the common people and the media the anguish has spilt over on the streets. But then crimes against women have been happening all along.

The number of rapes in Delhi were around 500 last year and Mumbai it’s around 350. But move  ahead. Madhya Pradesh it’s 12,000 cases and Bengal it’s around 10,000 crimes against women. We should all promise ourselves that India would have a 100% voting in 2014. The vote is just one-half of the pledge we should make. The other-half is to vote the correct people into power. Our votes are sacred, and secret.We are all free to vote according to our conscience, unless it’s some village in Madhya Pradesh where dacoits control the ballot. By and large the ballot is given to us unconditionally.

We must therefore never vote for a party or on caste-lines, the rich or the poor. Why should a Hindu vote for a Hindu or a Muslim for a Muslim, upper caste for upper caste and lower caste for lower caste? We should only vote for the right candidates.This would give us a political party with the maximum number of  honest efficient administrators. And we must  certainly not vote for any candidate who has been accused of corruption. We must vote for people who know how to get the job done and who know they’re the servants and not masters of the people.

They must know by voting we’re employing the candidates to run the country for us. Earlier we were fighting the British Raj. Today we’re fighting social inequality and social injustice. We have to look after the army well so that they can defend our country. And if we don’t look after the police force how can we expect them to look after the internal law and order? In order to bring about reforms we first need to change the person who stares back at us in the mirror every morning.

The moment we do that there will be a paradigm shift. The moment the individual learns to respect himself the rest follows. We have a wonderful opportunity to turn around our socio-political system. This has come to us now after 65 years. It has come to us after great peril after so much struggle, wars, droughts, famine and poverty, floods, after the Emergency. This awareness and awakening has come to us after a great struggle. We should stop complaining and just do the right thing.

Nothing is ineffective. I asked an old teacher of mine. She said, ‘Nothing goes waste.’ How do we define a character in our movie? By their deeds. We all are what we do. If we go out in a silent procession with a candle in our hands we are still protesting effectively. This gender bias that we see in society is rampant in our movies. One is embarrassed  and ashamed to see the film fraternity propagating and celebrating gender bias in a  big way. And then we have awards functions where this bias is turned into television entertainment.

Tragically our own iconic actresses choose to act out the bias. It’s girl power working against girl power. Why do they do it? Is it desperation for food? Are they abla naaris desperate for do waqt ki roti dancing to make ends  meet? No! It’s not poverty? It’s just lust for instant fame and money. It’s all about easy bucks, easy fame. This is not art. It’s commerce at its most immoral. Every business has its ethics. The practice of dancing for big bucks is unethical. I say this with a cool balanced mind. Being a movie-maker I am appalled at how the lines of morality could get blurred for me. I have to stop and think.

Am I doing the right or the wrong thing? Every filmmaker needs to be careful about  what is shown. I love my work and I hope I’m part of the change. Cinema does need to have a moral responsibility. I haven’t seen too many recent films. Somewhere I am scared they might seep into my system. Something within me says, ‘Yaar, yeh sahi nahin ho raha hai.’  It’s time for a change in cinema and society. Like I said, we have a chance this Republic Day to bring an actual reform. Nothing will happen in one day.

But we’ve an election very soon. Bring the train back on the track. Ulti Ganga beh rehi hai. Kamse kam Ganga to seedhi karo. If we let go of the current opportunity for reform then we are doomed. Then we deserve the governance that we get. Behind the anguish I see anger. People are questioning the status quo. That’s a good sign. Time for talk is over. It’s time to walk  the talk.