Friends in industry never question my support for Modi government: Madhur Bhandarkar

On Monday evening, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar eloquently expressed his opinion on topics ranging from the relevance of the Censor Board to award wapsi at a colloquium on freedom of expression organised in Lucknow by the department of public administration, Lucknow University along with the Deen Dayal Upadhyay International Foundation.
When we caught up with the National Award winning director the next day while he was meeting friends in the city, it was only natural that we speak to him about Bollywood's newfound freedom of expression, with celebrities no longer keeping mum on contentious issues.From Anupam Kher vociferously opposing the award wapsi by artistes to Vishal Dadlani openly supporting the Aam Admi Party, Bollywood's voice is hard to hush.
'This is definitely a new phenomena in Bollywood in which actors, filmmakers, directors, music directors, everybody is taking a stand,' says Madhur, who was recently awarded the Padma Shri. He adds, 'There are still some people in the industry who have the support of some party, but they don't want to talk about it in the open. But others, who support a party or an issue, now talk openly about it. And there's nothing wrong in that. It's good. In Hollywood too, people come out openly to support the Democrats or the Republicans. There's nothing wrong in people having affiliations and having opinions. We are now participating in talking about the larger issues of the country, and that's how it should be.'
According to Bhandarkar, if we can talk openly about everything else under the sun, why not our political views. 'We have so many arguments and counter arguments on various topics ' ki yeh khana achha lagta hai, yeh film achhi lagti hai or even about clothes. But the moment you ask ki which party or leader do you like, there is a question mark... And if you speak your mind, people turn around and say he has a political lineage. I don't know why,' he says.
'Chandni Bar Returns' is an interesting idea: Madhur Bhandarkar
Madhur, who was part of the Anupam Kher-led march in Delhi in November last year against artistes who had returned state awards to protest against alleged intolerance in the country, adds, 'However, my friends in the industry never ask me why I am supporting the Modi government. And I have a lot of Muslim friends. They have their ideology that they believe in, and I never question them about it. There may be a difference in ideologies but our friendships remain the same. Maybe somebody likes red colour, you may not like it but you can't jam the road and say why does he like it? Somebody likes some actor, that doesn't mean we start fighting over him,' says the filmmaker.
He adds, 'People in Bollywood are speaking their minds because they can do so now. And that's been made possible to a large extent by social media, even if we get trolled for giving our points of view ' whether it is about films, politics, clothes, a party, picture. People don't want to be always politically correct. I know of people in the industry who do that ' try to suppress their thoughts or political ideology. Some people think ki arre yaar, meri picture rok denge, ki meri picture aayegi toh theatre ke baahar halla karenge if I talk about it openly, but not everyone thinks like that.'
While Madhur believes in the freedom of expression, at the event in LU on Monday, he also talked about the Censor Board being relevant in the country. 'It's not like I haven't had run-ins with the Censor Board, I had problems with them over my last film 'Calendar Girls.' With the same chairman who is on the board now. I wanted a U/A certificate for a larger audience but he said that he's following a particular guideline and gave the movie an 'A' certification. The guidelines are not framed by him. They have been there since ages. And when the Chairman of the Censor Board tells you that, you can't question him on it.'
However, Bhandarkar adds that the Board can be more liberal. 'I've always had a tiff with the Censor Board. When I made 'Heroine,' there was a scene of Kareena Kapoor smoking in the film. And that time, the UPA government was there and they had come with a diktat to put a warning saying smoking is injurious to health while showing a smoking scene. I think it is the most ridiculous thing! How can you put a thing like that in the middle of a scene! It's like disfiguring your work. It was a dramatic sequence and its impact would have gone with that warning scrolling across it. I had gone to the Delhi High Court with the matter. I had told them that my film is already shot and it's going to be released, while the circular came later. Obviously, I won the case, though I had to incorporate a dialogue saying smoking is injurious to health and we used Kareena Kapoor's voice for that. So I didn't put any smoking scene in Calendar Girls, but it takes away from the character and the theme.'
'Aaj kya hai ki while making a film, we think ki censor yeh nahi pass karega, censor woh nahi paas karega, it's very difficult. It's very difficult to think about an edgy subject. I can't imagine a 'Bandit Queen' being made today, it had so many cuss words and so much of edginess. It's not possible because yeh bhi kato, woh bhi kato. You see these old movies of Pran and Ajit and all. They used to smoke and they used to make smoke rings. Now if I want to make a movie on any historical figure, say Churchill or Hitler, I can't show a smoking scene. So I say that the Censor has to be there but it has to take a more liberal view of things keeping today's world in mind. Now everything is available on the internet. Times have changed.'
Listen to Calendar Girls on Gaana.com
WATCH: Madhur Bhandarkar's next to revolve around Bollywood wives