THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Censorship is a double-edged sword and it has its own merits and demerits, said actor and filmmaker Nandita Das. She was speaking after inaugurating the Open Forum of the 23rd IFFK at Tagore Theatre on Saturday. Her film ‘Manto’ was screened at the festival. “Censorship in India remains a major issue. Not only violence and sexual scenes, but the scenes which are stereotyped have to be censored too,” Nandita said.
She said apart from celluloid, many people go for self-censoring due to fear of being lynched or trolled. They don’t want to express themselves in public.She criticised the fascistic mentality prevailing in the country which defies the creative freedom. “ In the last three years, many people were lynched for silencing the divisive forces,” she said.
Welcomes Sabarimala verdict
Nandita said that she supports the Supreme Court’s decision allowing women of all ages to enter Sabarimala temple. “In general, associating the word ‘polluting’ with menstruation is an extremely archaic way of thinking,” Nandita said. She shared her views on ‘Dark is beautiful’ campaign too. Her film ‘Manto’ deals with the socially relevant issue of intolerance towards creative freedom. Nandita said she had planned to screen the movie in front of a larger audience rather than releasing in Netflix.
Jayan K Cherian, the director of ‘Ka Bodyscapes’, a film which landed in controversy earlier due to the alleged anti-Hindu content, said that he had to struggle a lot for releasing the film. He said he had to face many agitations from various quarters. “Right-wing Hindu outfits had tried to silence me. But I never stopped fighting against it. We are still following the 17th-century Victorian laws. Those laws have to be eliminated,” Jayan said.