AMITABH SHANKAR
Why the great Indian painter MF Hussain has to live in exile? Why there is a furore when cartoons of Prophet Mohammad are published in a newspaper? Why are books banned and why fatwas are issued against writers like Salman Rushdie and Tasleema?
Simply because they were able to express their imagination in their works, which hurt the religious sentiments of few religious fanatics. For having painted gods and goddesses in nude. For having expressed the frailties of a closed society in words and showing it a mirror.
If you don't like your face, break the mirror. Is that the solution? No, nor is going under the knife the solution.
Nudity is beautiful and it is the most celebrated state of being, everybody would agree. Everybody is a voyeur in private. So why do people get furious when it blooms in expression as a piece of art. Haven't our Gods been depicted in nude earlier. Does MF Hussain's being an alien (Muslim) make him ineligible to paint Saraswati? Who knows the religion of those who built Khajuraho, which is celebrated by one and all.
Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution of India to its citizens except in some extra-ordinary conditions like putting at risk the security and safety of the nation and damaging the peaceful fabric of the country. And if the works of an artist are genuine but it infuriates the public and they go on a rampage, it is the state's responsibility to control them. And if they can't, it is their failure. Banning something is not the solution.
Why there must be a censor board to clip the wings of creative people? Why not our people should have the freedom of choice as well, to see what they like and avoid what they don't?
Not that I have always been a champion of freedom of expression but now I think that the creativity should be unbridled.
I always feel that Hindi literature, of which I am a great fan, has lost too much just because of the restrain of women authors. They don't come out as openly as their male counterparts do, there are social pressures upon them. They haven't been able to jot down their feelings in public for the fear of being stigmatized by their family and society. And those who have dared, like Ismat Chugtai, have done a great service to the literature and to their readers by offering them to in read something about the female mind first hand.
Can't more women shed their prudishness and write something honestly so that lesser mortals like me get to have a peep in their mind and heart, which I think is unfathomable.
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You are right, when you say that everybody has the right of making expression. But why you forget that water in a glass can be filled up to a certain extent beyond that it is not possible. The same case applies here also.
M F Hussein had to live in exile because he had crossed that limit. I do agree with you, when you talk about freedom of expression. But here comes the twist, religion is a factor but the most concerning thing is that you can’t take undue franchise in the name of creativity. Ok, fine that you are a person of art domain, but how can you assault a community, a nation emotionally. ”Maa Saraswati” is the goddess of Hindu and we treat her as our mother and sometime more than that. So I don’t imagine that anybody accept a nude painting of a mother. Creation is very enterprising only when it does not hurt the sentiment of others. At least that creation should not come in public. If that happens then it becomes an abuse. It is very clearly expressed in our constitution. There are two things Fundamental rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. Here I don’t want to go in details about the above said as everybody knows about that.
I again agree with him about banning something is not the solution. But there should be some criteria about that but here I should also mention that “No Censor Board”. We should collectively hold this responsibility of scrutinizing these types of matters.
When u place Urdu literature above Hindi then the reason you stated is not the right one according to me. Apart from Ismat Chugtai do you remember anyone else in Urdu Literature? I don’t think so. But we have so many. Amrita Pritam, Mahadevi Verma, Mridula (Jain) Garg and many more.
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