More than 100 filmmakers from across India have come together to issue a statement to ‘Save Democracy’ and oust the BJP from power through the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Now, Pa Ranjith (Kaala, Kabali), Lijo Jose Pellissery (Ee Maa Yau) and Rajeev Ravi (Kammatti Paadam) have joined the group.
The list of filmmakers who had issued the statement include veteran documentarian Anand Patwardhan, National Award winner Vetri Maran who recently directed the Dhanush-starrer Vada Chennai, popular Malayalam language producer/director Aashiq Abu, festival director Bina Paul and other well-known independent filmmakers such as Gurvinder Singh, Devashish Makhija, Pushpendra Singh, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan and Kabir Singh Chowdhry.
The statement starts off saying “ Though culturally vivid and geographically diverse, we have always stayed united. As a nation. It has indeed been a great feeling to be a citizen of this wonderful country.”
The filmmakers list their main concerns as “unleashing of polarisation and hate politics; marginalisation of Dalits, Muslims and farmers; steady erosion of the cultural and scientific institutions; and increasing censorship,” under the BJP government.
The statement closes with a call to prevent the BJP from coming back to power.
We urge all of you to do everything in your capacity to keep this harmful regime from coming back to power. Let your mandate be to choose a government that respects the Constitution of India, protects our freedom of speech and expression, and refrains from all kinds of censorship.
The full statement and list of signatories can be found at their website: https://www.artistuniteindia.com
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