Anurag Kashyap To Morality Police: Don’t Impose Your Morals On Filmmakers

MUMBAI, (IANS) – Filmmaker-actor Anurag Kashyap, who has been receiving a lot of positive responses for his performance in the show ‘Bad Cop,’ has shared his opinion on the idea of morality in art.

Kashyap questioned why it’s only considered the responsibility of members of the film fraternity to bring about positive change in society and why they are criticized if they depict something negative. He argued that filmmakers should have the freedom to portray whatever they like in their films since it is a fictional world.

He stated, “Morality insaan ki apni hoti hai. A filmmaker can show whatever he or she wants in their film (Barring a few exceptions, morality is very subjective and personal). People think that members of the film fraternity either introduce bad things into society or uplift it.”

He continued, “Why is it considered the sole responsibility of filmmakers? A filmmaker can make or show whatever they like as it is their film. You can’t impose your morality or worldview on others. If a person becomes so powerful that they can impose their morality on others, they become a dictator.”

Kashyap then cited the example of Pol Pot, the Communist dictator who ruled Cambodia as Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea between 1976 and 1979. He told IANS, “If you read about the beginnings of Pol Pot, you will understand where I’m coming from. He was a simple doctor, and his intentions were very different when he started, and see what he did.”

The director pointed to Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, the members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea who killed an estimated 2 million people.