Liberty in the Name of Art is Not Unlimited

Anything depicting society in bad light or hurting the sentiments of the people cannot be tolerated in the name of Art. Distortion of history is not permissible. But at the same time, we cannot leave it to handful of people to decide what Art is and is not? This is the practice followed worldwide. Barring the dark days of Emergency, Indian people have always enjoyed the freedom of speech. People of this great country have always fought bravely whenever an attack was made on free expressions of ideas and thoughts. It has been proved beyond doubt that Indians consider freedom as the greatest gift of civilisation. So it is painful to see when some of our own do not realise the gains of free expressions. The more one tries to be reasonable with them they become more adamant and aggressive. Thus the manner in which fringe organisations like Karni Sena showing disrespect towards Supreme Court’s judgement on the nationwide release film Padmawat, signals a great threat to the law of the land. More worrying is the silence of our rulers. Beyond doubt those organisations, who dare to challenge the verdict of the Supreme Court should be banned and its leaders should be jailed. But our rulers are not interested either in banning these organisations or to put its leaders behind bars. The rulers should keep it in mind that they are in power to up held the rule of law. Not to appease any particular section of the populace. Clearly, it is not the film, but the opposition to it is more dangerous to India’s age-old social fabric than anything else. Quite strangely, all these are happening after the Censor Board cleared the film with certain cuts and even changing its name from Padmawati to Padmawat. The maker of the film as a law abiding citizen of the country has followed all the instructions given by the Censor Board. Yet, the makers are at the receiving end. On the other hand, those who think themselves above the law are calling the shots. Such people gained more strength as couple of states notwithstanding the clearance of the Censor Board, banned the film in their respective states even before its release on the pretext of law and order situation. The rationale behind the decision can be questioned. How can one raise the question of law and order even before the film is released? The Censor board has clearly found nothing objectionable in film. This is why it allowed the film to be released. So the best possible way to avoid any controversy was to allow the film to be released and take measures to maintain law and order after knowing the response of the audience. Unfortunately, the state governments, which are opposing the release of the film, did not explore this path. To be precise, those state governments meekly surrendered before fringe elements without realising that a weak ruler has no right to rule. Either he or she will have to leave the throne voluntarily or the people will bring him down. So as per the Supreme Court directives film Padmawat should be released all over the country as scheduled and further steps should be taken weighing on the opinion of the masses which should be free from pride and  prejudice.