Thiruvananthapuram> Renowned Indian director, screenwriter, and actress Aparna Sen who has been branded as feminist filmmaker said her feminism is humanism. Aparna Sen, was addressing the audience in the Aravindan Memorial Lecture as part of the International Film Festival of Kerala, at the Nila theatre. The lecture was in memory of G.Aravindan, a multifaceted genius, who continues to captivate the audience with unique sensibility of creative vibrancy. Film critic C.S.Venkiteswaran talked on the brilliance of the maestro.
“I have never intended to be a director. What is important is exposure”, said Aparna Sen, associating a journey to the inside of one’s mind to a physical journey. She said that the film Padmavati embroiled in recent controversies, represents the curbing of creative art, and that liberal voices are not heard. We are guided by a sense of a fear and the age of vision is being crippled from a very prime age, said she. She demanded that one should stand up against all these fears and frightening state of affairs.
She also talked about how female bonding is not addressed in cinema, and how the mindset of the society is still contaminated. She added that being a man is not acting macho and condescending, but being kind. On a lighter note, she narrated the story of her father, who, even when he was hospitalized, was obstinate about being acknowledged as an agnostic rather than as an atheist.
