By Subhash K Jha

On Saturday Amar Kaushik who’s an assistant director to Onir got the shock of his life on a local train where he was discussing Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D loudly and lavishly with his friends.

A group of passengers’ close- by heard Dev D being mentioned and roughed up Kaushik very badly.

Says the director Onir: “They mistook him for Anurag because Amar looks like Anurag. And they said to him, ‘You’ve been talking rubbish about Raj Thackeray’. It is scary. If they can behave this way with Anurag’s look-alike what would they do with the real person. What has happened to the freedom of expression in Mumbai?”

Anurag Kashyap is unfazed. “I’ve been at the receiving end of the MNS and Mr.Raj Thackeray’s attentions for quite some time. About three weeks ago at the MAMI film festival some MNS guys commented that the film The Anti-Christ was vulgar. I retaliated by saying that those who think this way are vulgar.”

After the incident Anurag was provided round-the-clock police protection. “I was shooting a film then and I was given police protection. But now the cops are gone. I’m not scared. But it’s scary when people who look like me have to suffer for what I say or do.”

Anurag feels the film industry needs to take a collective stand against this sort of a creative arm-twisting. “What happens is, individuals from our industry who get into a situation with these elements reach a compromise with such elements. That’s no solution. We in the movie business need to collectively fight back against these attempts to muzzle our freedom.”

-Sampurn Media

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