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Sushant Singh: When stars don't comment on important issues, it affects the functioning of the CINTAA

Kirori Mal College alumnus Sushant Singh says that he was a philosopher during his college days and believed that he knew everything about the human nature in his first year. Known for films like 'Satya' and 'The Legend of Bhagat Singh' and his stint as a host of 'Savdhaan India', the CINTAA general secretary visited his alma mater on Thursday.

He was there for Mise-en-Scene, the annual film fest by Montage, the film society of the college. In an interactive session, he answered questions and spoke about a variety of topics – from his college and hostel life to TV’s regressive content and CINTAA’s stand on Tanushree Dutta’s #MeToo allegations against Nana Patekar.
‘As an actor, I enjoy theatre the most’
When a student asked Sushant that since he has done theatre, movies and TV, what does he enjoy doing the most? “From an actor’s point of view, I enjoyed theatre the most. Then cinema and finally, television, which is okay. Kabhi kabhi achhe scenes mil jaate hain, par television humare yahan bahut hi infantile stage pe hai. Bachkana hai, kyun hai ye nahi pata. Television just works on TRPs and ratings. We keep discussing why our television is getting so regressive but jab kuch achha banate hain toh woh chalta nahi hai. In theatre, there is a live exchange with the audience and ek actor ke liye usse better medium koi nahi hai. Uske baad hai cinema, jisme your director is everything. But we don’t know who is the king in TV. It is a muddle, you think the writer is the king but he is writing because channel bol raha hai ye track chalao kyunki TRP aa rahi hai.”
Elaborating on why he doesn’t like TV too much, the actor said, “Aap ek hi character repeat kar rahe ho, ek saal is my max, aur jab tak bahut paise ki zarurat nahi hai main TV soaps se bhagta hoon. First episode mein you might have been told that you are an orphan on the show par 496th episode mein bolte hain ki tumhare ma baap hain. It is challenging also, itni bewakufana cheezein likh ke di jaati hai and you play that with conviction.”


‘It affects the working of CINTAA when stars do not comment on important issues’

In the context of the #MeToo movement, a student asked Sushant how the functioning of the CINTAA is affected when actors with a huge fan base do not comment on such topics. “Ours is a very tough industry. Actors ki problem hai ki kya stand le? Kyunki aap kuch bhi karo gaali padhti hai. I will give you an example. Aamir Khan took a stand on the Narmada issue in favour of the displaced people. This was after 'Rang De Basanti'. Unki film Gujarat se hata di gayi. When actors take a stand on political or social issues and some group gets offended, then they say tum toh nachne gaane wale log ho, who are you to tell us ki hum kya karein? Wahan gaali padti hai, aur jab chup rehte hain toh kehte hain, ab kyun chup ho, tab bola tha toh ab kyun nahi bole? We are expected to take a stand on every issue and but not a stand which is against the popular belief or conviction. Hence I don’t blame our big stars when they keep quiet,” he said, adding, “Is it a good thing? No. I don’t endorse it, but I understand it. Humari functioning pe fark padhta hai uss cheez se, of course. Agar pata hai ki superstars aapka saath nahi de rahe ek topic pe toh your association becomes weaker. But should we also keep quiet? No, we are not like that.”

Sushant said, “The Tanushree Dutta-Nana Patekar case started when she was asked ki aapka #MeToo ke bare mein kya kehna hai? And she said ki yahan toh kuch nahi hoga kyunki jab mere saath hua tha toh kisi ne koi stand nahi liya. CINTAA did not help me. This happened in 2008, and we were not there in the committee at that time. When that statement came, we looked into old papers and realised that she did complain about sexual harassment but the committee just advised her to file an FIR. Unhone aur koi stand nahi liya. Nana Patekar ko koi letter nahi bheja gaya ki aapke khilaf complaint hai, what is your say? The film’s producer, director were also involved but they were also not sent letter. Just the monetary part was sorted – joh paise nahi mile thay, woh dila diye gaye thay. But the filmmakers were not asked why she was removed from the film. Hence, we took a stand and apologised to her and said we agree that the CINTAA did not help you back then but we hope that it does not happen again. That garnered a lot of attention, people noticed that there is a body like the CINTAA. Abhi uspe police case chal raha hai and unfortunately, we can’t do much in that case because it is a single complaint. Whenever there is a #MeToo allegation or a sexual harassment case, hum dono parties ka version sunte hain and see if there is a pattern. In Nana Patekar’s case, there was no pattern. In Alok Nath’s case, there was a pattern. It wasn’t just Vinta Nanda’s allegations but a lot of other actresses also said that he has been a sexual predator, so we chucked him out of the association,” he said.


‘I thank the Players and KMC for pushing me towards theatre’
The actor, who was enrolled in the English (Hons) course at KMC, said that he could have very well graduated in Canteen (Hons) because he spent most of his time there and in the front lawns of the college. “KMC was a wonderful time. Though I was part of the Players, the theatre society of KMC, I did not do much work as an actor. Itna achha actor tab tha bhi nahi main. Bahut kosta tha main Players aur Keval Arora (former staff advisor of Players) ko ki itne achhe actor ko chance nahi dete. I thought I was a great actor, but much later, when I met my guru – Ebrahim Alkazi – and when he started teaching me and made me unlearn a lot of things, I realised that I was nothing but a copy of Amitabh Bachchan. The college was a good place for exchange of ideas. Hum poore din toh hangout hi karte thay. We were doing Canteen (Hons). Attendance 33% chahiye hoti thi aur woh mil jaati thi. I should thank Players and KMC for pushing me towards theatre. Because of the people that I met here, I decided that I wanted to be an actor, so the journey continued,” Sushant shared.


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