Dubai: Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra says the whole debate on the need to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ to show one's love for the country is artificial as patriotism is something which is defined by work and not by mere sloganeering.
He, however, says he is not siding with All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi, who recently sparked a controversy when he said he will not chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.
Veteran actor Anupam Kher had slammed Owaisi, saying the slogan is the only definition of nationalism but Mishra finds the whole debate artificial.
"Patriotism for me is when people put their ideas into the work. Your love for your country is only in your work," Mishra told PTI in an interview here.
"We all should love our country. I don't know what's the fuss about 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' slogan. That's Anupam Kher's view (if he feels the slogan should be the only definition of nationalism). I have chanted that slogan a lot of times, if you say it at a correct place, I will say it.
"I even say 'Hindustan zindabad'. I think this whole thing is quite artificial. I am not siding with Owaisi because he is a strict man of beliefs and I come from campus and hence I am a man of experimentation," he added.
Owaisi's remark came after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India.
Mishra believes while celebrities are becoming aware and vocal about their political beliefs, they don't put that into their work.
"The overall atmosphere right now is that people are getting aware but I am disappointed that people in the film industry don't show these things in their work. They just speak.
"Films must reflect what we speak. Like Hansal's (Mehta) work reflects in a sense what he speaks. I think the young directors have that," the ‘Hazaroen Khwaishein Aisi’ director said.
When asked about the JNU incident, where students were arrested on sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans, he said, "University is a place of debates, imaginations and experimentations. If you stop that then the idea of university flops."
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