Actor-director Nandita Das spoke to Brut India about the 2019 general election, and the secret behind a good biopic.
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00:00I would never vote for any party whose fundamental ideology is to divide people.
00:09And the current government, unfortunately, I feel, has an ideology that doesn't resonate with me.
00:14I've never felt this level of fear that I've felt in the last four, five years, you know.
00:19I mean, the way one is trolled, the way one is attacked, it's so vicious.
00:30Well, it's difficult to say whom I'm going to vote for, and it is a personal choice,
00:46but I can tell you that I would never vote for any party whose fundamental ideology is to divide people,
00:53who talks about any particular identity as being, you know, either you're proud of that identity
00:59or ashamed of that identity. And identity, that's a given identity, whether it's based on nationality,
01:04whether it's based on religion, whether it's based on caste, whether it's based on gender.
01:09These are identities we just happen to be born in. You know, I would vote for, definitely not vote for any party
01:17that is kind of giving you a sense as if everything has changed, everything is going to be wonderful.
01:23That's not the reality. You know, there are farmers, suicides have increased.
01:27Unemployment has never been as high as it's today, you know. So, to know the truth about anything,
01:35we have to read a lot more. We have to find out what the ground reality is.
01:39We can't just be seeing perceptions of things. Today, everything is about perception.
01:44When we buy a soap, do we really know if this soap is really good or not?
01:48If it's bombarded and if there are advertisements all around, you start believing that that soap is really good.
01:53Because that's the power of advertisement. But this is not a soap. You know, we are in a democracy.
01:59This is not a presidential election. This person versus that person.
02:03You know, there are people who make for a government and a government is different from a party.
02:08You want a government that, of course, it will be of a party, but they are not the same.
02:15The party must have its own agenda and the government definitely must have its own agenda.
02:21So, I will definitely not vote for a party that believes in that kind of a philosophy.
02:26And the current government, unfortunately, I feel, has an ideology that doesn't resonate with me.
02:31But I am not going to tell anyone, you must vote for this or you must not vote for this.
02:35All I am saying is, let's vote for a party that ensures that we have more freedom to think,
02:41to watch films, to speak our minds, anything that stifles our freedom.
02:46If there is a sense of fear, I have never felt this level of fear that I felt in the last four, five years.
02:53You know, I mean, the way one is trolled, the way one is attacked, it's so vicious.
02:58You know, we can agree, we can disagree, but that space must exist.
03:03And that, that to me is not the idea of India that I grew up in.
03:11Yeah, I mean, I said to say this, but 23 years ago when FIRE came out,
03:27I mean, there were protests and there were people who attacked it as well and, you know, it did rake up a lot of issues.
03:33But at that time, it was, there was still possibility of that discourse.
03:38You know, FIRE, in fact, got released without a single cut in the sense that the censor board didn't give a single cut,
03:45which I don't think would happen now. And even though there were people who attacked it and said,
03:50you know, literally were catching people's throat and saying, no, you can't go and see the film,
03:55spontaneously it gave rise to a protest as well, where people talked about freedom of expression.
04:00People said whether we like the film or not, at least we should have the freedom to watch it, you know.
04:05So, and after 23 years, there should have been more freedom, there should have been more democracy,
04:11there should have been, you know, more discourses in the public domain about it.
04:15But I feel we as individuals do feel more apprehensive, more stifled, more unsure whether we have that freedom,
04:23whether you as a media, me as an artist or somebody as an individual that, you know, you like something on Facebook,
04:29you are feeling that, oh my God, is somebody watching, can I say this or not?
04:33So, that's a pity because in a democracy, there has to be space for dissent.
04:38You don't have to agree with everything, but there are constitutional ways in which we can disagree with each other.
04:59Biopic is interesting if you are truly talking about those characters and you take up interesting characters
05:16who have their strengths and weaknesses and contradictions and, you know, that makes it, the grey area is the interesting part to explore.
05:24I don't want to put people just on a pedestal. I am, of course, a great admirer of Mantu, both as the person and the writer.
05:32But that didn't mean that I was just putting him on a pedestal. I have shown his what's and blemishes as much as I have shown the good side of it, you know.
05:41So, I think a true biopic must reflect those contradictions, must reflect the character in the way they actually are.
05:48So, a propaganda film is very different from doing a more sort of interesting, complex exploration of a character.