Filmmakers should not recreate vengeful stories of the past and instill revenge in the minds of current and future generations said actor-turned-politician R Sarathkumar. He was responding to a question placed by Sudhir Srinivasan, Entertainment Editor of The New Indian Express, at the ThinkEdu Conclave 2020 in Chennai.
Kicking off an interesting conversation, Sudhir asked, ‘‘Do you see the awareness of filmmakers in terms of what they are allowed to show has changed? Do you find that they (filmmakers) are increasingly more aware of social dynamics which govern life in general?" To which Sarathkumar promptly replied, ‘‘Yes there are many filmmakers who are very conscious of what they want to say but certain things of history whatever has happened in the past? Should we have to tell them or remind them of certain things and start to create vengeance in their mind?’’
Not willing to mention a recently released movie that portrayed caste-based discrimination and violence, he said, though I liked it, there was a lot of violence in the film, "You are trying to refresh the memories of people that these things happened in the past. When they are reminded of that, then the generation of today and tomorrow would think their forefathers went through this, so we should oppose and have to take revenge of some kind.’’
He also said that censorship was not there in OTT (Over-the-top) media services, Sarathkumar said it was a bit bothersome. Anything can be shown on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and a lot of uncensored content come on it, he said, adding that though certain scenes just portrayed natural human actions, it makes it uncomfortable watching with children and family.
Further, Sarathkumar also stressed that though cinema is more of entertainment, the filmmakers also have a responsibility in sending the right message to society and youth. He added that though as an actor he did not prefer many things, sometimes, producers suggest actors to perform scenes that are of commercial value.
