'One-sided
application of the law
will only get the contempt of people'
Fire over Water
Message Board views are edited slightly
Name: nilima satish
Email: nilima@research.haifa.ac.il
Message: Why doesn't Deepa Mehta select good subject? I feel she is sick but she knows how to make money taking controversial issues. Her ultimate aim is to make money, so she can take issues related to Islam aur Christianity but she is afraid of being killed.
Name: Ajay
Email:
Message: What the Parivar did to Water is correct. in the name of democraCy and freedom of speech these people are making fun of the old and sad stuff in Hinduism, just to get favourable impression from the West. These so-called intellectuals don't even dare to look at the barbaric acts of other religions.
The attitude of these people is, get a foreign producer, get stuff which will insult Hinduism, then there is Shabana and Nanditha to act.
It is not the Sangh to be blamed for these type of incidents, it is people like Deepa Mehta who are transferring most tolerant Hindus to intolerables.
Hope it wouldn't be long before somebody issues a fatwa like stuff to end all this humiliation.
Name: nagaraju
Email: nraju_r@hotmail.com
Message: It is high time Hindus took a collective stand against these
so-called secular and liberal minded people who have repeatedly
been hurting our sentiments. There was no talk about freedom of
expression when the government banned The Satanic Verses, in fact we were
the first to do so. I think there was more creativity in Rushdie's writing than in Deepa's movies.
If Deepa and Shabana are that worried about the plight of women why don't they start with a movie
about the plight of women in Afghanistan instead of concentrating on issues that are
long forgotten? She must not be allowed to shoot the movie anywhere in India.
Name: Raju
Email: zfluid@yahoo.com
Message:
It is a condemnable act that
people violate the law of the land.
In this case (of Water) the
self-claimed secularists
have condemned it very much.
How come they did not (and do
not) condemn Karnataka govt.
that violated the Cauvery
tribunal award? That you can
violate the 'law of the land'
and get away with it was
taught to our society
by our politicians, for
eg, those who killed 2500
Sikhs in 1984.
If the 'law of the land'
is uniformly applied to all sections
of the society, people will
accept it. Such one-sided
application of the law
will only get the contempt of people.
Let's forget for a moment
the laws and look at
morality. The question is,
is it ok to ignore the vast majority
of widows that work hard
to keep their family going
(for eg, those widows that make a life
by producing papads) and
specifically focus on a few
that might get into
prostitution?
Name: Sudip Majumder
Email: smajumde@us.oracle.com
Message: Ashok Banker
really understood the 'sick' psyche of Mehta, Nair et all. Of course,
Shabana and Nadita are the conduit to their collective greed and the
necessary 'prasadam'. These media created 'so-called' directors just
simply thrive on their surname which is unfortunately an 'Indian' one.
Almost all of them have the coveted degrees from Harvard etc which the
Indian middle class psyche cajole little realizing that if you are a
citizen of this country you just need to be above average and a deep
pocket to study in these schools unlike Indians who had to be rather
extraordinary to get into them. Now the fun begins. With a rather
mediocre intellect, these creeps would desperately like to make a splash
NOW in their professional career which is somewhat not really taking off
-- they have a dream to make a big buck on Hollywood, dream to be on the
cover page of Times & Newsweek etc but do not have the real talent to
realize those dreams. Hence, they fall back on their Indian surname --
lets make a movie, lets take a 'taboo' or a 'social evil' subject and
they know in their heart that Indian media would support them; middle
class pseudo intellectuals would like them all thanks to their 'foreign
born' image and associated pompousness coupled with the $ affluence.
They know that they would succeed because there would be always some
protest (both for and against) to their marketing of 'social evils' from
all colors with varying degrees and the print/TV media would catch it
thus giving them an instant publicity without costing a dime! The
'foreign' press media loves anything that denigrates India period.
What
could be better than when a non-resident Indian is being bashed up
by some 'thugs' and 'Hindu zealots'! The next step for these creeps are
simple -- release the darn artistically third rate movie and soon you
will find them in the Blockbuster with a catchy 'R rated' title 'erotic
story about the lesbian affairs between two Sita and Radha' -- what a
sham!
Our Indian stalwarts making serious movies such as Ray, Mrinal
Sen , Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Benegal, Gulzar, Karnad, Aparna Sen made so
many films depicting the social evils but they are Indian true to
their heart -- they just wanted to expose the social evil through the
celluloid and NOT to market them and neither the 'big bucks'. Deepa,
Mira: you guys don't belong here -- appeal to you not to exploit your
filthy Indianness any more for the sake of the publicity/glamour/money
et all.
Name: Bala
Email:
Message: Hi, I don't know anything about the script going in Water , whether it has some Fire or just plain Water. But we should stop denigrating Gods by naming lesbians as Sita or Laksmi. Instead the liberators could name it as Shabana or Nandita or Deepa, who bothers even if they are. The so-called secularity or freedom of speech, thought and creativity should not flower up only on denigrating Hinduism. The liberators never opened their mouth in protest when Satanic Verses was banned or a fatwa was issued on Salman. At that time the media and the protecters and saviours were there only to support sentiments of the minority.
Our great country India with a fabric of secularism,
tolerance and haven of creativity will support only painting a nude Saraswati. Husain and Shabana can show their beliefs in nude or gay. These media, corrupt politicians and so called protectors and liberators of freedom of thought will support them.
Creativity should never be a vehicle to promote intolerance, bigotry or cheapness.
The government should never allow any media/people to disfigure or snoop at any faith.
Madame Deepa and Shabana, can't u do any good to the country instead of creating
problems as if we had none.
Name: XYZ
Email:
Message: Water is a movie depicting the plight of Hindu widows - that is what it purports to be. But for
whom is the movie being made -- the movie going crowd in India or abroad. Well, as far as the movie
going crowd in India is concerned don't they already know about this issue. So what is the purpose
being solved by showing another movie on the same subject. As far as the people abroad are concerned
they will only shower a few more awards on the budding director not that we expect them to do anything
about this issue. We all ask what have these self-appointed guardians of Indian culture done to solve the
problems of widows -- but what have so many of the staunch Hindus that many claim to be (even
director Deepa Mehta claims to be one) done to alleviate their problems. The money that would be needed
to make the movie could well be used to improve the conditions of some of these widow homes, but then we
will say that it is not a moviemaker's job to do so -- so isn't it anybody's ( all the engineers, doctors, profesionals,
academicians ) and the problem remains as it is.
Name: Sambaran Mitra
Email: baransam@hotmail.com
Message: We seem to be walking backwards. The ruling alliance is headed by a party whose once favourite byline used to be "Shaan se kaho ham Hindu hai". Ironically, under their regime, incidents after incidents are happening, which is embarrassing me as a Hindu.
The Indian Constitution guarantees everybody freedom of speech/expression. It means that anybody can express oneself, unless he/she imposes him/herself on public. How I interpret this is:-
a) Write any book, however offensive it may seem to a section of public. Unless and until a person goes and reads the book, he/she will not be "hurt". So if you think that a certain book is offensive to you, don't read it [simple]. BUT DONT FORBID OTHERS TO READ IT.
b) Similarly, however offensive a movie may seem to a section of public, don't ban that movie. Those who are offended, should not come to watch it. If some lunatics feel that it is offensive to them, they should not be allowed to burn down posters or stop a shooting.
I thought the BJP is a strong party. I expected them to punish those who are stopping Water shooting (however crappy the movie might be, that is not the point at all), I expected them to punish those self-acclaimed moral guardians who burnt down Fire posters in Mumbai AND I ALSO EXPECTED THEM TO "UNBAN" SATANIC VERSES. I am not very enthusiastic about reading the book, but the very thought that a book is banned (a book cannot hurt anybody unless it is read) is hateful to me. Instead what I hear Venkaiah Naidu saying, that since Satanic Verses was banned therefore people have every right to stall shootings unlawfully and go scot-free.
Let us try to get rid of the notion that public is fool and that it has to be guided so that it can understand what is good for it. Let us not have censor boards, let us not ban any book, let us not attack any painter and let us not stop any cinema director from making anything he/she likes.
Sambaran Mitra
Name: dr.sunil r. desai
Email: themisagencies@hotmail.com
Message: very often, the line dividing truth and falsehood is very thin. Islam has denied freedom to anybody to criticize itself. It has wiped out all other beliefs and cultures, eg, countries from Turkey to Indonesia --a dangerous crescent of crisis. I am, therefore, a strong advocate of denying any avenue of further growth to Islam, just in the way it stops others from enjoying the freedom in their area of influence. Deepa Mehta's incident when analyzed in this light, one is left with no other choice but to deny her freedom to become a tool of above type of Islamist, anti-Hindus, pseudo etc. to maintain true freedom. For future generation to enjoy true freedom, she must be ostracized to serve democracy better.
Name: tDinu Rathod/ Washington, DC
Email: dinu_rathod
Message: Where is religious tolerance of people opposing filming of movie "Water". Rights of the individual are being trampled by unnecessary hysteria. These people need to find something worthwhile to divert their energy. India has monumental problems. Wish them good luck in achieving relief of misery of common people. Our democratic values must be upheld all the times! You cannot have selective application of democratic rights of freedom of expression.
Name: Mukund
Email: mukundkp@hotmail.com
Message: I think Deepa Mehta is wrong no one can ridicule Hindus or Hindutva and she cannot take Hindus for granted and make movies on our religion, if she has enough guts let her make a movies based on Muslim (talak problem)
Name: Suresh b balakrishnan
Email: sureshbanu@hotmail.com
Message: When thousands of names are available, why choose 'SITA' & 'RADHA' in Fire and 'JANAKI' and 'SHAKUNTHALAI' in Water (forget why WATER and FIRE). Though she has every right to choose, shouldn't she give some basic consideration for millions of people who worship these names as sacred Gods. I would bet more than 98 pc of the widows lead a very miserable but honest and respectful life. I feel very few will be prostitutes. When 'generalization' is done, it adds lot of salt to the injury of already suffering WIDOWS. FREEDOM is to use, not to MISUSE. She should understand this first. When M F Husain paints sita NUDE and says he is an artist, why can't he paint a male prophet nude, if he dares. He will surely get a fatwa. These fanatics should understand how it hurts 100s of millions of people!
Name:
Email:
Message: I appreciate Deepa Mehta, Shabana, and Nandita's effort to address social evils of HINDU society. I equally appreciate if she and co made any effort for evils of ISLAM(so called religion of peace, and Christianity). If she and co really believe in FREEDOM of EXPRESSION, why don't she make films on Mussalmans and Christians? Afraid of what happened to Rushdie and Taslima etc, who dared. She is repeatedly making films on particular religion. Where were she and co when our secular government banned Rushdie, Taslima and drama on NATHURAM GODSE banned? By only making film on one particular religion of their evils you can't solve problems. You should also come up with solutions to them. It is very easy to pinpoint others faults. Why can't she try to solve problems? If can't solve a problem you don't have any moral right to pinpoint one.
I suggest Deepa Mehta and co spend money, render service to those deprived widows. Go to them share their plight and alleviate them if you can.
Name: P.RAMAKRISHNAN
Email: pramki99@yahoo.com
Message: Deepa is not Artistic in the real sense as her intentions are very clear from her past deeds in indulging soft porn for westerners she herself being an NRI, viz, not a responsible Indian, nay Not Required Indian as long as she doesn't want to shoot the rich cultural heritages of her motherland. Instead, in her greed for power, fame and riches which she can easily achieves by making poor Indian public as scapegoats and corrupt politicians to support her.. Why can't she attempt such an art film in the streets of USA & UK & EUROPE where she will be able to shoot free of cost! No, she dares not as these governments will deport her on the next flight which she forgets that one day she has to come back to the very same place which she tarnished.. It is like spitting on one's own plate although she may make a fortune now... Such NRI should be debarred to enter India in Future..
Enough is said about Indian poverty ! yet We Indians not NRI...
are real lovers of the land.. Lets not encourage these so called developed sociological fanatic artists, there is no shortage of artists in India.. She should have been packed off to Canada.. like olden times never to be allowed to return...
Name: vrsec
Email: vrsec@mailexcite.com
Message: She must become a politician I guess. I don't think she needs to have the title Water and make the movie at Ganges. She is just another Indian born Kubrick who just wants controversies and may be make money out of them she is not the best film maker so nobody is going to lose not watching her stupid movies on lesbianism or whatever. You need not publicize evils I think she should be banned from entering the country like Rajneesh
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