Kolkata: The involvement of Tollywood in the R G Kar demonstrations has been perceived through various lenses. While a faction of individuals derive amusement from creating memes using the footage of celebrities’ videos or casting doubt on the agendas of actor-turned-activists, a significant number holds immense admiration for those persistently advocating for the administration of justice.
One such protester is R G Kar’s resident doctor Kinjal Nanda, who catapulted to fame in Tollywood with his portrayal of Hiralal Sen in Arun Roy’s eponymous film. His recent post proclaiming: ‘My spine is not for sale’ has gone viral. Nanda joined R G Kar last Sep. Nanda leaves his four-month-old daughter at home daily to join protesters at the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front. His wife, who is a faculty member of an ESI hospital, reports to duty as well.
His latest film — ‘Kaantaye Kaantaye’ — premiered on Aug 15 but he has been unable to engage in any promotional activities. “This is an immensely significant incident and cannot be equated with anything else. It is coincidental that this incident transpired in our college. I would have responded identically had it occurred at any other location,” said Nanda. There is no point bestowing me any extra credit. Bhebli-di (Swastika Mukherjee) has been sharing and amplifying the protest posts across India. Mir-da extended me an open offer stating he is prepared to do whatever we require,” Nanda said.
Nevertheless, there have been diatribes against certain members of Tollywood who have seized this opportunity to gain mileage. Some notorious for their dubious conduct with women on and off the sets have jumped on the protest bandwagon. Some have sarcastically questioned the insincere tears of late entries in the protest scene or quotable quotes of some actors who supposedly got “irritated” for being pursued by the media at protest marches. “Even my friends have ridiculed these. There is a hashtag #boycott Tollywood after that. Such irresponsible acts only aid trolls who question the integrity of Tollywood as a fraternity. It is crucial for Tollywood to protest responsibly. The intent should be genuine and sincere,” said director Arjunn Dutta.
Nanda said such behaviour is unfortunate. “But we can’t regulate everyone. Such people exist in every profession. Celebs get targeted easily as our faces are visible,” he said.
On Sunday, Tollywood issued a clarion call to congregate at 4 pm at Technicians’ Studio. Directors Atanu Ghosh, Birsa Dasgupta, Ranjan Ghosh, Premendu Bikash Chaki, Srijit Mukherji, Arindam Sil, Raajhorshee De and Aniruddha Roychowdhury, actor Shoumo Banerjee shared a post of the march that will head to R G Kar. What has stood out is the decision to cancel special screenings of a new launch while acknowledging that it can have financial implications. Abir Chatterjee and Subhasree Ganguly cancelled the special screening of ‘Babli’ on Aug 16. Dev postponed the teaser launch of ‘Khadaan’. Somnath Kundu dedicated his new National Award for best make-up to the R G Kar victim. Release of the film, ‘Onko Ki Kothin’, has also been postponed.
By late evening, many in Tollywood including actor-director Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritwick Chakraborty, Paoli Dam, Gaurav Chakraborty, Koel Mullick and Saswata Chatterjee shared two posts on social media. One of them mentioned that irrespective of their political affiliations, they agreed that health and police departments have to take responsibility of the incident and have to be transparent about their role.