Letter to the Independent

Dear Editor
Rituparna Chatterjee decries what she calls the creeping religious censorship in India’s Bollywood industry(5 March). Freedom of expression is an inalienable right in a democracy but that does not give one a license to insult or show utter contempt for the revered figures of a religion. In Bollywood’s case over the last few years many films have been made making fun of Hindu gods and showing them in compromising positions. The film makers also deliberately change the character of historical legends of Hinduism and portray them in an immensely hurtful light Curiously it is only Hinduism that they pick on to create the hugely hurtful scenarios. In the name of freedom of expression the Bollywood industry is sowing the seeds of hatred and social unrest. Freedom comes with responsibilities and sooner the industry realizes this the better.
Nitin Mehta