God save our country from terrorism and filmmakers

By Subhash K Jha

An SMS doing the rounds in Mumbai says, "A humble appeal to Mahesh Bhatt, Ram Gopal Varma, Sanjay Gupta and Apoorva Lakhia…

Sirs, what's happening to our beloved Bombay is terrifying and sad. Don't insult us by thinking of making a 'realistic' film glorifying /capitalizing on this situation. God please save our country from such terrorism and such filmmakers."

What do you have to say to the accusation that filmmakers like you have capitalized on terrorism?

Tempers are running high. People are angry. Mumbaikars are sick of facing calamities. How much more?

Mumbai is the city of opportunity. Suddenly it's a place where no one is safe. As filmmakers we're storytellers and our morality is never misplaced. In no film on terrorism do the perpetrators get away with it. Even Abhishek Bachchan was killed in Sarkar Raj. It's not fair to blame us for capitalizing.

Filmmakers like Neeraj Pandey and Nishikant Kamat refuse to talk on issues of terrorism that they've so delicately handled in their films?

They're probably in a state of shock. Speaking for myself, I'm responsible for the work that I do. Terrorism is an extremely low and sickening form of selfassertion. It's disgusting.

You made Shootout At Lokhandwala about the real 1992 shootout between cops and terrorists holed up in a building in Lokhandwala. Dj vu?

Not really. That was just one apartment building. When it had happened it was shocking enough for Mumbai for something like that to happen in broad daylight.

But this is so advanced, you can't even begin to wonder about the planning that must have gone into the attack. The authorities have apparently found a boat with the latest JPS system, the terrorists are young boys who can easily blend into Mumbai.

And to enter our city on rubber dinghies…. How did they plan all this? It's a lesson for all of us.

So Shootout At Colaba is far ahead of Lokhandwala?

No, this is way too advanced to be compared with the Lokhandwala shootout. Those were local goons holed up and flushed out in a day. This is unreal. It's a wakeup call for every governmental organization in the city.

It's taken terrorism to another level.We're in the international news. Nowhere in the world has this kind of an attack lasted for more than forty hours.

After 9/11, this is the most shocking terrorist attack. I've made a film Mission Instaanbul on international terrorism. A common pattern to global terrorism is the suicidal terrorists. Today they're willing to die for their subverted cause. They come prepared to let the day of the attack be the last day of their lives.

No right-thinking person goes into any mission thinking it's the last day of his life.

You've a home in New York. No 9/11 happened there after 9/11. We continue to have them periodically?

I feel we've rogue states as a border countries. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka…so many regions where people can infiltrate into our country. And they all look like us.

But in America every one who comes in from the outside can easily be identified. Also, we've a large population of Muslims. A major problem is we're unable to penetrate our homegrown terror cells. In America they go door to door to check out suspects.

We don't have suspects because everyone from India and its neighbouring countries look the same. So the terrorist could easily be your nextdoor neighbour. However let me add that if this(the Taj/Oberoi siege) happened in in a posh hotel in American they wouldn't have managed any better.

Why?

There're 900-1000 rooms in a hotel. You've no idea where and who the terrorists and the hostages are. High-ranking officers were killed. So it's unfair to say the situation would've been tackled better. The current crisis will put our countries on red alert. India should take help of other countries.

We've had some great films on 9/11. You see a similar thing happening with 11/26?

It's too early to think about films. People want to be as detached from this nightmare as possible. We've lost some powerful security personnel. It's an embarrassment and tragedy for Mumbai.It's a nightmare. But it's reality.