On Sunday, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur appeared to hit out at ‘intellectuals’ after a bout of letter-writing had gripped the nation.
On Sunday, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur appeared to hit out at ‘intellectuals’ after a bout of letter-writing had gripped the nation.
For those living under a rock, a group of 49 individuals including Anurag Kashyap and Aparna Sen wrote a letter to PM Modi on the spate of mob lynching against ‘Dalits and Muslims’. This was followed by a counter letter from 62 individuals who slammed the ‘selective narrative’.
Taking to Twitter, Kapur said that he had come to India as a refugee of partition and that he had always lived in fear of the ‘embrace of intellectuals’. He wrote: “Started life as refugee of Partition. Parents gave everything to make a life for kids. Was always in fear of ‘intellectuals’. They made me feel insignificant. Small. Then suddenly embraced me after my films. I still fear them. Their embrace is like a bite of snake. Still a refugee.”
1. Javed Akhtar slams Shekhar Kapur
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This led to an angry reaction from an incandescent Javed Akhtar who demanded to know the names of aforementioned ‘intellectuals’ going to on to tell him that he needed a ‘good psychiatrist’.
Akhtar wrote on Twitter: “Who are these intellectuals who embraced you and you found that embrace like a snake’s bite ? Shyam Benegal , Adoor Gopal Krishna , Ram chandra Guha ? Really ? . Shekhar saheb you are not well . You need help . Come on , there is no shame in meeting a good psychiatrist . What do you mean by still a refugee Does it mean that you feel like an outsider n not an Indian n you don’t feel that this is your motherland .If in India you are still a refugee where will you not feel like a refugee, in Pakistan? Cut this melodrama you poor rich but lonely guy.”
Started life as refugee of Partition. Parents gave everything to make a life for kids. Was always in fear of ‘intellectuals’. They made me feel insignicant. Small. Then suddenly embraced me after my films. I still fear them. Their embrace is like a bite of snake. Still a refugee.
— Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) July 27, 2019
What do you mean by still a refugee Does it mean that you feel like an outsider n not an Indian n you don’t feel that this is your motherland .If in India you are still a refugee where will you not feel like a refugee ,In Pakistan? Cut this melodrama you poor rich but lonely guy
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) July 28, 2019
You introduce yourself as neither prejudiced by the past nor afraid of the future living in this moment and in the same breath you say you are a refugee of partition and still a refugee . One doesn’t need a magnifying glass to see the contradiction .
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) July 28, 2019
What do you mean by still a refugee Does it mean that you feel like an outsider n not an Indian n you don’t feel that this is your motherland .If in India you are still a refugee where will you not feel like a refugee ,In Pakistan? Cut this melodrama you poor rich but lonely guy
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) July 28, 2019
2. Letter Wars
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This led Kapur to reply: “No. It means once you are a refugee, you feel a gypsy.”
Three days after a group of eminent citizens wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the lynching of minorities and hate crimes, 61 high profile personalities from various fields on Friday responded with a counter statement against "selective outrage and false narratives".
The July 23 letter by 49 "self-styled guardians and conscience keepers" expressed selective concerns and demonstrated a "clear political bias and motive", said the statement signed by actor Kangana Ranaut, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, dancer Sonal Mansingh and filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar and Vivek Agnihotri and others.
"It (the July 23 letter) is aimed at tarnishing India's international standing and to negatively portray the prime minister's untiring efforts to effectuate governance on the foundations of positive nationalism and humanism which is the core of Indianess," the statement read.
The document of selective outrage, it said, comes across as an "attempt to foist a false narrative with the intention of denigrating the democratic ethos and norms of our collective functioning as a nation and people".
3. Ratnam, Kashyap vs Kangana, Prasoon Joshi
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On July 23, 49 personalities, including filmmakers Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal and Aparna Sen as well as vocalist Shubha Mudgal and historian Ramchandra Guha, expressed concern at the number of "religious identity-based hate crimes" and noted that Jai Shri Ram' has become a provocative war cry with many lynchings taking place in its name.
In their statement on Friday, 61 signatories questioned the silence of the letter writers on their silence "when tribals and the marginalised have become victims of Naxal terror".
"They have kept silent when separatists have issued dictates to burn schools in Kashmir, they have kept silent when the demand for dismembering India, for making pieces of her -Tukde Tukde were made, they kept silent when slogans chanted by terrorists and terror groups were echoed in some leading university campuses in the country," the statement said.
The civil society leaders had noted in the open letter to the prime minister that criticising the lynchings in Parliament is not enough.
