When famed actor Naseeruddin Shah’s reaction on mob violence and lynching has sparked a row, the short film ‘Skin of Marble’ turns out to be even more relevant for his impressive role.
He did not mind splitting up the hero from the heroine in reel life. While he gets angry at the unique imp that has come out of the bottle in real life. Like a traditional father in the film, he approaches the stunning Violet, persuading her to maintain a distance from Param, his son. He wanted to marry his only son to a girl the family chose. Above all, his promise to the girl’s father was supreme for him.
In the film, he acted differently from his real life personality as a father. In reality, he is worried for his children if a mob happens to ask them of their religion, just the way a Lodi Sultan asked the Sufi poet Kabir’s religion. It was this dread which causes him apprehension and he sees no near improvement in the situation. This has bothered him to the extent that he has appealed to every person to get angry but not to be scared.
Filmed in the aftermath of the partition, the film surely somewhere depicts an imitation of present-day violence also. Gory clashes with communal angles are the reality of today’s life also.
Since independence, we have faced communal clashes but our political leaders seem to find good in this tendency. Just like the film’s female lead character Violet offers herself to the crooked fanatics holding swords in their hands, innocent people continue to lose their lives in communal clashes or lynching even today.
Is violence in the country of Gandhi a proven mark to achieve the political ascendancy?
We are at present crying for discarding communal considerations in our traditional society. Just like the hero’s father in the film, wily politicians are reaching their cloaked aspirations by utilising communal sentiment.
The conflict of choosing between privileging the political cause and standing for the anti-social elements is nothing new in the country’s historical perspective. The current situations someway corroborate with the anger presented through the meaningful movie.
In the meantime, Uttar Pradesh BJP President Mahendranath Pandey said about Naseeruddin Shah, “In one of his movies he played the role of a Pakistani agent. I think he is growing into that character now.”