Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah spoke to Indian Express about growing Islamaphobia under the rule of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its influence on Bollywood.
“Oh sure, these are worrying times absolutely,” the veteran actor said. “The kind of stuff that’s pure, undisguised propaganda is being lapped up and it’s a reflection of the zeitgeist of the times. Muslim hating is fashionable these days, even among educated people. It’s what the ruling party has very cleverly tapped into this nerve. We talk about secular this, democracy that, so why are you introducing religion into everything?.”
The actor is well known for his out-spoken critique on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the spread of fascism in India, especially on the Indian Premier’s silence on growing hate speech in India.
“I mean how spineless is the election commission of ours? Who doesn’t even dare utter a word. If there had been a Muslim leader who had said, ‘Allah Hu Akbar bol ke button dabao’, sh*t would have hit the fan. But here our Prime Minister goes ahead and says things like this and yet he loses. So, I have hope that this will wear off. But it’s definitely, at the moment, at its peak. It’s been a very clever card played by this government, and it has worked. Let’s see how long it continues to work.”
Speaking on the rise of state propaganda films like ‘Mission Majnu’ and ‘Kashmir Files’, Shah said that the best thing that actors can do in these times is stay quiet and not participate in any propaganda, because artists these days are scared to raise their voice or fear their movies will be boycotted by the masses.
Further addressing the role of art in influencing society, Shah urged all artists to raise the right questions, but also stressed on the need to come from a place of fearlessness. He further said that words and no action will not resolve the issue, but one has to practice what they preach.
