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Sunday, 7 September 2014

The Hapless Case of an Award Winning Actress!!



“An award winning actress arrested for prostitution!” was the breaking news at every holy news channel and so did  read the headlines of very news paper.  “She was  caught in compromising position earlier as well in a sting operation  done by another saintly Telugu News channel!”- they claimed.   Is it about Shweta Basu Prasad, better known as Shweta Prasad?  Or  are there other subtleties involved ?
Here is a young lady whom I can recall as the sweet little girl portraying the  dual role of Chunni and Munni in Vishal Bhardwaj directed Makdee, where she worked alongside the iconic Shabana Azmi and versatile Makrand Deshpande. It was the film that earned her the ‘National Film Award for the Best Child Artist’. She was 11 years old then.  Another thread of my memory traces her as Khadija in Nagesh Kukunoor directed Iqbal where she performed the role of the younger sister to a deaf and dumb brother Iqbal, an ardent cricket fan and a fine player of the game, played by no less talented Shreyas Talpade. Here again she worked as a co-actor of  Naseeruddin Shah and Girish Karnad.  This very role, once again,  fetched her international accolades as she was awarded with the  ‘Best supporting Actress Award’  at the 5th  Karachi International Film Festival.  Can we stoop to a level to charge her of having resorted to immodest ways to grab those roles as a 11 years old child? 
Yes,  now she is 23 by age. Yes, she is capable enough to  know and decide the nature of her acts and their repercussions as well.  Yes, she is responsible for any and every act of hers.  But is it only her who is responsible for having resorted to opt for doing it for money?  Many  would say yes. But I would prefer to implicate many others, including the State. After all a Welfare State we are;  and in a Welfare State it is for the State to provide for Social Security to every citizen.  I would also hold responsible the lechers who have seen her grow up,  who might have observed her reaching puberty and cross adolescence.  Most of whom might have waited for her to groom into a full-bodied woman.  Almost all of them invincible by sheer fact of quantum of their  not-so-hard-earned wealth.  Each of them wielding  such powers which almost all of us,  yes all of us, dream to possess at one point or another.     
Is it not the same coterie of persons who eventually became her ‘so called high profile clients’ who are also responsible for it?
Isn't it quite probable that they belong to the same group of lechers who  have been waiting for her to enter her youth?  Since they could not succeed in manipulating her enough in that tender age or could not dare to take that step to tear through her modesty that eventually they ended up using their money to make her fall prey to them?  They might have in the know of her financial and other hardships. No, I am not saying that resorting to any such practice is the only solution. But, is it only her who is at fault or other stakeholders including the Sate too are responsible to an extent.  
In this biggest democracy of ours, we have ‘first past the post system’. It implies that the candidate garnering the support of maximum number of voters shall win, which does not necessarily mean  that he has the support of more than fifty percent of the voters. A person mustering the support of merely 20-25% of the votes is declared the winner. Now you will ask "how is it relevant here?" It is. This same winner, if he fails to win in the next general elections, even then he has the divine assurance of receiving a handsome sum as pension, which increases in multiples commensurating with the number of elections a candidate wins in his entire career.
o   Is not this a primary duty of the State to arrange for the welfare of the talented artists as well?

o   Is it not in the interest of the nation if the art and culture are preserved and promoted in a holistic manner through  policy initiatives?

o   Why are such precious talents left to waste or languish in some unknown  corner?

    o   Has not history taught us that not just the nations but civilizations which failed to preserve          the art and culture of theirs could not stand the test of times and no tangible traces of them are detectable today?

Again, its not about defending the actress in news these days, rather fixing the responsibility of various stakeholders and making them answer. If we can provide pensions to politicians and other individuals like retired government servants, why can’t there be a provision for exceptional artists? Had there been a proper systemic set up to patronize artists, litterateurs etc., such cases would have been a rarity if not non-existent.    
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