‘Every story has an ideology, what’s wrong with propaganda films?’ asks Javed Akhtar

Bollywood lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar defended the right of filmmakers to propagate ideas through cinema, saying every story carries an ideology. He praised the film Dhuandhar and questioned the notion of “propaganda films.”

Kolkata: Legendary lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar on Sunday said everyone has the right to propagate his or her ideas in creative works.

Akhtar was speaking to reporters after receiving a special award from a city-based leading jewellery brand for his achievement, when he was asked to comment on some recent films like ‘Dhuandhar’ being tagged as propaganda movies.

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“I don’t know what you mean by propaganda films. I loved Dhurandhar, which was an excellent film. I loved the first one more than the second one,” he said.

“Every story takes some stand, but does it become propaganda because the narrative isn’t suited to a section of the audience? Everyone has the right to propagate his ideas. What is wrong with propaganda films?

The task of every filmmaker is to present the truth, Akhtar said.

Even if the narrative of a movie is built on a fairy tale, that will have an ideology in a way, he explained.

Asked to comment on a warrant issued recently against popular Bengali poet Srijato Bandyopadhyay for writing a poem about 10 years back, Akhtar said he does not have much information about it.

About the issue of being an atheist, Akhtar said, “An atheist thinks inherently, is without prejudice, thinks rationally…. I was invited by the West Bengal Urdu Academy for an event last year that was cancelled.”

“This is only the problem of those having religious close-mindedness who have little tolerance,” he said, referring to the event cancelled due to objections raised by certain Islamist groups of the state.

Asked about the possible result of the West Bengal assembly polls, Akhtar said, “Governments come and go; you need a government to run a society. But Bengal is not known for governments. Bengal is known for its history and literature, which does not belong to any political party.”

Bengal is known for film-makers like Satyajit Ray, Goutam Ghosh and Mumbai-based directors like Bimal Roy, he added.

The legendary screenplay writer also said that every film has a moral, which can be labelled differently.

Asked if he would write ‘Dewar’, the 1975 hit film the script of which he had co-written, Akhar replied in the negative.

“Films are like mirrors. With the passage of time, morality changes, and aspirations change. As the society changes, content changes,” he said.

Akhtar said he would finally like to make a mainstream film which would be acceptable to both the class and mass audiences.

Asked to comment on the issue of the advent of the BJP to power at the Centre in 2014, Akhtar said change is there to happen.

“Sometimes changes are undesirable and sometimes desirable. I generally believe the younger generation is better than my generation. They will make this society much better,” he said.

He said he is thankful for receiving the P C Chandra Puraskar, which recognises exceptional achievement across diverse fields.