How would you describe Bombay?
Disgusting. It is no longer the city in which we lived our better years. The situation has been continuously deteriorating in the past few years, more rapidly now than before. There should be limits. Yeh koi tareeka hai? You don't agree with someone, goonde bhej do. It is not the stamp of a civilised city. Gangsterism, vandalism—that is all that is left of Bombay. We have endured all this for decades. I like to be free. But I have been given this security.
So things have changed for you?
Everything has changed. Even the name of Bombay has changed. They have changed the name of streets. Nothing is the same.
You have shown courage in standing up to a fascist intimidation that seems to have overtaken Bombay.
I have done nothing extraordinary...
What about the 'chaddi morcha'?
That's true. There was some tamasha but in the din I did not follow anything. And anyway I do not wish to comment on it. It is for the judges to decide.
Has the industry rallied behind you?
There have been some sporadic telephone calls adding up to not very much.
Thackeray uses the word 'Pakistani' for you as an abuse because you accepted the Nishan-e-Pakistan award.
I do not see why there should be a stigma involved in accepting a bonafide award from a bonafide government. Inko kya taklif hoti hai? The kattar fundamentalists have so thoroughly polarised people into Hindus and Muslims. Only when you meet and mix with other people do you realise that there are the good and the bad among all, that all are human beings, that all religious scriptures basically say the same things. But all that we see here today is a foolish indulgence in medieval exercise. When communication technology today has bridged all the gaps and distances, they persist in facing away from the sun and turning to the dark side... What will be the future of our children? A whole generation will grow up believing in these differences. This is all the result of a galaxy of crass perceptions.
Since Pakistan has honoured so many Indians with their highest award, do you think India should do the same for eminent Pakistanis?
If their work is that good and merits recognition and if the government agrees to do so. After all, we have the same social values and mores, the same problems. We speak the same language. Why just Pakistan, even Bangladesh—after all, we were one country carved out into segments for other reasons. But the reality comes back to haunt you. Through it all our cultural identities are something that we have, and remain, in common.
This sharp polarisation between Hindus and Muslims, can this be felt as deeply in cosmopolitan Bombay?
We already had a partition. But now they are bent on carving up the country again. From India and Pakistan and Bangladesh we are descending into dividing Bandra into Behrampada and Kherwadi. The temple that was this city has become dwarfed by such attitudes. It doesn't seem as though we are moving forward. We have stagnated and are moving backwards.
