Veteran actress and politician Jaya Bachchan took up the issue of attacks on Sanjay Leela Bhansali in the Rajya Sabha the other day. Expressing her disgust on the same, she urged the government to not to ignore the matters related to the film industry. Speaking during the zero hour, the actress mentioned how the issues of law and order should be taken into consideration immediately. She connected the unfortunate incident with intolerance and said:
Sometimes they (filmmakers and actors) are threatened, sometimes films are not allowed to be screened, sets are vandalised and sometimes it takes a violent turn as it happened in Jaipur recently, on the sets of Padmavati, where Rajput Karni Sena not only physically assaulted Sanjay Leela Bhansali, but also damaged the expensive film equipments. What message are we sending to the film fraternity which is one of the most important and vibrant ambassador of the country. Creativity should not be subjected to such treatment.
Ms Bachchan then demanded a strong punishment for those who created violence on the sets and said:
Creativity should not be subjected to such treatment. They have no respect for the constitutional values or law and order. The film fraternity has long been fighting this menace with little or no support from the government. Film industry creates large number of employment opportunity and any such disruption affects earnings, growth and employment generation within the industry.
With this strong statement, it seems like Jaya Bachchan shushed all those who criticise the Bachchans for not taking stands on various issues anywhere. Even in the Padmavati fiasco, when the entire Bollywood came together to condemn what happened, there was no single tweet or any social media post from either Amitabh or Abhishek Bachchan. And this has been the decorum since always. The Bachchans, probably fearing the ‘vulnerability of their stardom’ never come out and voice their opinions on controversial issues, unless they are confronted by the media on camera sometimes.
However, Jaya taking such a powerful stance in the Upper House is an exact example of how the film industry should react on such vital issues, apart from making noise on the social media. More power to her!
