The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 21

The International News Weekly VIEW
November 24, 2017 | Toronto
17
'Padmavati' protests much ado about nothing?
By Amit Kapoor
It's that time of the year
again when our sentiments
are hurt, and it is acceptable
to temporarily suspend liberal
democracy because of it.
The latest victim of the nowubiquitous
tyranny of hurt
sentiments has been Sanjay
Leela Bhansali's "Padmavati",
which has been accused
of twisting historical "facts".
After a series of unfortunate
events over the last week
pertaining to the movie,
which involved a couple of
death threats, its makers
have been left with no option
but to "voluntarily defer" the
release date.
Moreover, Madhya
Pradesh and Punjab have
been happy to oblige the
groups issuing death threats
and inspiring violence by
banning the film from their
states. Likewise, Uttar
Pradesh has urged a delay
in the release of the movie
fearing law and order problems.
This begs the question
whether the onus of law and
order lies with the government
or the creative community?
Should filmmakers
limit their freedom of
expression and contemplate
the law and order consequences
of their work?
The situation seems
even more ludicrous and bizarre
when it is realised that
the protagonist of the movie
around which the controversy
is centred is, in fact,
a fictional character based
on a half-fantastical epic
poem of the 16th century by
a Sufi poet. Rani Padmavati
makes her first appearance
in history in poet Malik Muhammad
Jayasi's "Padmavat",
which narrates a tale
of Alauddin Khilji's siege of
Chittor that had happened
in the 14th century.
In the poem, Khilji,
upon hearing of Padmavati's
beauty, marches towards
Chittor to demand her hand
in marriage and manages
to defeat her husband. But,
before he could reach her,
Padmavati commits jauhar
(self-immolation).
Now, Khilji defeating
Rana Ratan Singh of Chittor
in 1303 is a historical fact
but there is no evidence of
the existence of any one by
the name of Padmavati back
India facing a conspiracy
of silence on environment,
says Sunita Narain
By Kushagra Dixit
NEW DELHI: Environmentalist Sunita Narain, who
heads the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
and is a member of the Supreme Court-appointed
Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), says
the environment challenges we confront are progenies
of "a conspiracy of silence". "Pollution is visible in Delhi
because some important people live here, so there's a
good monitoring system and there's outrage because
people know how pollution is affecting their children. But
what about rest of the country? If people don't know what
is killing them, they don't bother about environmental
pollution," she said, stressing upon the need for a "Delhilike
outrage" in the rest of the country.
"It's a conspiracy of silence; it's a conspiracy because
you don't want them to know (the harmful effects of
environmental pollution)," Narain, whose new book
"Conflicts of Interest" couldn't have come at a more
appropriate moment, told IANS in an interview.
"Ten days ago when the smog episode took place in
Delhi, I felt deeply frustrated and almost helpless. We'd
given our life and soul to move things, but it's so difficult
to get real, meaningful action. At some moments I felt like
just giving up. But it's a journey and you have to push it
with hope," she said.
During her three-decade-long "frustrating and deeply
disturbing" journey through India's green movement
-- that includes finding the real villains by explaining
the controversial science behind pollution, battling the
elitist of the elite which includes lobbies of celebrities,
industries, government and the politicians -- a lot had
been made possible despite all odds. Attacked and put
on "trial by fire" for exposing the cola-companies which
used pesticides, she and her team survived and won legal
battles over giants like Arun Jaitley, Kapil Sibal and P.
Chidambaram, all representing interests of automobile
companies contending particulate pollution was "not
dangerous".
then. There is also no historical
evidence that the desire
for a woman played any role
in Khilji's attack on Chittor.
This figment of a poet's
imagination was told and
retold over centuries, slowly
becoming a symbol of Rajput
glory and defiance in the
face of external threats. Initial
translations of the poem
showed Khilji courting
Padmavati with the intent
of marrying her. However,
during the colonial period,
in order to inspire patriotism,
the translations gradually
evolved into that of a
heroic queen choosing death
over a lusty Muslim invader
to save her honour.
It is this version of the
story that has become an
By Saket Suman
Prominent Indian artist
Jatin Das -- painting for well
over five decades now -- has
come down heavily on the
state of the contemporary
art market. In one of his rare
interviews in recent years,
the prolific artist reflected
upon his illustrious career
and maintained that the
art world has undergone "a
sea change" and that many
young artists compromise
for their "bread and butter".
"There is now a sea
change in the art world.
People talk about art market
and art business. When
somebody comes to see your
work, they call him a client!
And there are a lot of players
now. Art students are more
interested in commercial art
or go abroad to study about
art investment.
"This word did not
exist before. People visited
studios, sometimes multiple
times, to look at the works.
Nobody bargained. There
was great camaraderie; there
was no art business. Today a
lot of young people say Sir,
we have to compromise for
our bread and butter," Das
told IANS in an interview.
"I just don't feel like
exhibiting, although I have
lots of works. I sell very little.
indisputable fact of history
in the minds of the ones who
are hurt by Bhansali's depiction
of Padmavati.
It is becoming worrisome
that the tolerance levels
of the country have fallen
so low that a group merely
needs to make a violet display
of disaffection for freedom
of expression to be curtailed.
The demands of the
disaffected group are first
met before any reasonability
behind them is understood.
The Indian constitution
also imposes some
restrictions on freedom of
speech but those can be imposed
only under certain
circumstances and "hurt
sentiments" is certainly not
one of them. It needs to be
I'm not in the Art Market.
Some people feel sorry for
me that my works are not in
auctions. They don't realise
that in auctions, artists don't
give their works. It is either
buyers or gallerists who
do it. It is all hype and high
society, and it has become a
glamorous world now," he
added. Das also said that a lot
of the artists these days paint
for upcoming exhibitions.
"Some even see the gallery
size and paint accordingly.
I or my friends from my
generation never painted
(for) an exhibition. Only
when we felt that we had a
body of work that gels, would
we exhibit.
"We all had the idealism
to work passionately with
commitment. The idea was
not to become an artist or
earn money; that was not
the concern for any of us.
Some people used to work
in advertising for money,
but then they would do
theatre, or write poetry and
understood and ensured
that curtailment of freedom
of expression can only be
done on objective grounds
and not based on sentiment.
The courts have repeatedly
made that clear.
When the Uttar Pradesh
government banned Periyar's
"Ramayana - A True
Reading" in 1976 because it
was an alternate narrative
of the epic and hurt Hindu
sentiments, the Supreme
Court quashed the ban and
reprimanded the government
for catering to supporters
of the ban instead of
being objective and supporting
a measured criticism
of faith. The government's
acting out in response to the
"Padmavati" row makes the
same error of pandering to
subjective demands.
Apart from repeatedly
violating fundamental
rights, the low tolerance
level of Indians is also problematic
from a developmental
perspective. A society
which is tolerant towards a
diverse set of ideas becomes
a hotbed of economic growth
and innovation. The growth
story of United States is the
things like that," said Das,
who studied at Mumbai's
Sir JJ School of Art, under
Professor S.B. Palsikar.
Das has held 68 oneman
shows in India and
abroad and has participated
in numerous national and
international exhibitions
and camps for artists.
Responding to a specific
question on the complaint by
several contemporary artists
that traditional artists, like
himself, consider themselves
more important, Das said
that a "real artist doesn't
exhibit for the public".
He reflected that when a
painting is sold, he is happy,
but "just for a minute". And
then he is sad that it is gone.
He said he doesn't paint for
selling, but he lives on the
sale of his paintings.
"Any creative person
must keep away from
the limelight, or it's not a
discipline of arrogance, you
must be able to spend time on
work," he added.
best evidence in modern
times of how acceptance of
different ideas and an environment
that is conducive
to questioning can spark a
developmental revolution.
If India sacrifices creative
freedom at the altar of sentiments
and emotions connected
with fictional entities,
innovation will easily
take a back seat and growth
will become ever-elusive.
This trend of growing
intolerance can, therefore,
prove to be dangerous at
many levels. The unreasonable
controversy around
"Padmavati" and the litany
of others preceding it need
to condemned and, most importantly,
not receive government
support. Instead,
governments need to be
intolerant of intolerance. In
case people displaying emotional
connect with fictional
characters are continued
to be gratified, we might as
well create a generation of
people that are no different
than children waiting for
gifts from Santa on Christmas
morning.
(Amit Kapoor is chair, Institute
for Competitiveness, India)
Art market is all hype and high society: Jatin Das
His ongoing exhibition
"Jatin Das: Artists & Friends.
Over Fifty Years" will be
on display at the Lalit Kala
Akademi here.
"There are 500 portraits in
this exhibition, made over 50
years. It requires you to slow
down, and look at details and
ruminate on the experience.
To take time with things.
We were drawing all the
time; I still think the mark
of a great artist is drawing.
That is something I tried to
show with this exhibition,"
he added. "This exhibition
is not about sales or money;
this is a personal endeavour,
a display of intimate
conversations and a lifetime
of drawing, my friends and
conversations," he said.
He went on to state that he
is "influenced by every artist,
by every part of nature, by
everything around me" and
that he does what he likes,
"and what I don't, I destroy".
"I paint in oils. I don't
like acrylic much, but I've
done some. I like to draw
and do water colours... It's an
integral part of me. Funny
how people ask, 'You also
draw?' Every artist must
draw, paint, do murals,
graphics, everything. You
have to do all kinds of things.
Play with the mediums like a
child," he concluded.