Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Life in times of strife

Photo: S. Gopakumar

Her view: Actor Nandita Das addresses a meeting in connection with the DC International Book Fair in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. –

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “Art and literature cannot set off a revolution. But at rare moments, it can touch something deep down in the heart, working in a subtle way, causing a transformation,” says actress and film director Nandita Das about what her aim was when she started working on ‘Firaaq,’ her latest movie.

‘Firaaq’ is an Urdu word that means separation. It also means quest. During a chat with media on the sidelines of the DC International Book Fair now on in the city, she said the theme of the film came to her when she found how polarised conversation was becoming wherever she went post Gujarat carnage.

Even in colleges and schools where the minds should be fresh—young minds free of the conditioning of religion and dogmas—it was happening. Something terrible was happening to the psyche of ordinary people. Suddenly there was fear, hatred, suspicion. People were examining how different they were from one another, while there were a thousand things all around them asserting how similar they were.

Ms. Nandita Das said ‘Firaaq’ was a journey into the minds of the people in times rife with fear, hatred and suspicion.

The film, in its entirety, was Indian in its emotional context and she indeed had doubts whether the audiences outside could connect with it wholly. But at every international film festivals where it had been screened so far, she found it striking a chord.

There was something universal about how the human mind functions.

Everywhere, the individual had several identities, the beautiful ones and the ones lurking in the dark shadows, she said.

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