Ratna Pathak Shah on Regressive TV: I Wonder Whether I’m in Islamic Iran or Modern India
Mumbai: Veteran actor Ratna Pathak Shah says that TV began taking the regressive route within the early 2000s. The actor spoke in her newest interview with a each day and talked about that the small display noticed a drastic shift from progressive tales to the sudden emergence of ‘parampara‘.Also Read – I’m headstrong, bossy and I am who I am: Ratna Pathak Shah The actor, who has been associated with shows like Tara, Idhar Udhar, and Filmi Chakkar among others in the past, told ETimes that everything is political when it comes to creating content on TV. She said, “It was during the early 2000s that the phase of horrible saas-bahu dramas began, with all their regressive ideas–stuff that we have spent years trying to dump out of the country. If you see, in the late ’90s and early 2000s, you may see the intention to create ‘parampara‘ in society all over again. The importance of caste was reinforced and communal relationships were looked down upon. This should have no space in the 21st century. So, how can you not be a political person?” Also Read – Did not like the idea of being an actor: Ratna Pathak Shah Shah added that when one decides to create content on television, it comes from a certain ideology, and therefore, it can’t be apolitical. “If you are making something that is consumed by millions in the country, how is that act not a political one? What choice do you have? How can you only be an artiste? I feel all art is political. The job of art is to disturb society, question things, to make people think. Of course, we are not doing that now; that’s another story,” she defined.
The Sarabhai vs Sarabhai actor went on to speak in regards to the society that we, as artistes are attempting to create, by the next self-censorship in a manner that’s not appropriate for anybody. The actor stated that we ought to be free to push out content material via numerous mediums. “With the advent of OTT, suddenly we are being looked at very carefully, people are self-censoring in a way I didn’t think was possible. Sometimes I wonder whether I am in Islamic Iran or modern India. What kind of a society are we creating? It is really scary stuff that is happening around us; if we don’t talk about it and if we don’t speak up against it, we are not doing our job,” Shah stated.
