Click to play videoNew Delhi: The past few years have seen several artistes being made targets for the wrath of fundamentalists
If it was Taslima Nasreen on Friday, on Saturday it is Madhuri Dixit.
The Bangladeshi author was forced to give in to extremist pressure and withdraw objectionable lines from her autobiography. This came in the wake of the Government’s suggestion to her that she not hurt public sentiments if she wants to stay in India.
Taslima, for her part, has done as asked for she feels such a move would ensure a peaceful stay for her in India.
Her case is no different from M F Husain’s or Salman Rushdie’s, both of whom have had to face the ire of extremist factions in the country.
For those questioning the Islamic faith, the going has never been easy.
Islamic groups worldwide protested vehemently when the British government knighted Rushdie in June this year proving that things have not change since1989, when Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in the author’s name for allegedly insulting the prophet in his book, Satanic Verses
In the worst case of retribution, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was stabbed and shot by extremist Muslim Mohammed Bouyeri in Amsterdam for allegedly hurting Muslim sentiments.
Van Gogh, a great-nephew once removed of the painter Vincent van Gogh, had made a 10-minute documentary titled Submission, which dealt with violence against women in Islamic societies.
A cartoon which poked fun at jihadi suicide bombers by depicting Prophet Mohammad with a bomb in a Danish newspaper resulted in massive outrage all across the globe.
Writer and activist Sadia Dehlvi feels that creative outputs should, at times, be moderated.
“Creative freedom doesn’t mean you can write anything you want,” she says, adding that in Islam, teachings of the prophet are central to the faith.
Artist M F Hussain has been in exile in Dubai since February 2006 after VHP activists took offence to his painting nude portraits of Hindu goddesses.
Several arrest warrants and death threats followed while Husain’s supporters say that being a renowned artist, he was a convenient target. But not even art students at MS University, Baroda were spared.
Vivan Sundaram says, “If this element of play or leela or wit and humour is not permissible then you are throttling the artist.”
This intolerance is not restricted to Hinduism and Islam.
Popular pot-boiler The Da Vinci Code’s film was hugely controversial and received widespread criticism from the Roman Catholic Church, all because the premise of the book/film was a popular conspiracy theory about Jesus Christ – that he had married and sired children.
The film’s release for protested all over India and was finally released with a disclaimer at the end.
In May 2005, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee demanded a blanket ban on the screening of the movie Jo Bole So Nihal. Two theatres in Delhi were witness to bomb blasts in the wake of the demand, prompting several theatres in the country to stop screening the movie.
But it is now obvious that despite the fact that most people support creative freedom, artists need to be ready to face the consequences.
Danseuse Sonal Mansingh agrees, and says, “Do what you have to but be ready for the consequences.”
The thin line between creative freedom and religious beliefs remains disturbed.
Freedom, after all, comes at a premium.
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