Actress Ratna Pathak Shah says that education has been used in India to maintain a power quotient
Actress Ratna Pathak Shah, who plays a school principal in the forthcoming Netflix original Selection Day, has looked at the education system critically and says it has been used to maintain the power equation in society.
“Education is a very potent force that gives you power. In our country, for centuries we believed that education should be kept for the personal purview of a few. The shastra attitude, where we have treated education as a sign of power, knowledge as a sign of power that we all want to hold on to... and that is how the caste system in our country has survived for ages. Education has been used to maintain the power equation in society,” said Ratna.
She added, “We have someone to clean our lavatory, otherwise we have to do it by ourselves. So we have controlled and kept a group of people away from education... but this is practiced in many countries. We are not the first ones, and we won’t be the last either.”
The acclaimed theatre and film veteran said it is important to raise questions on the value of education.
“Is the system actually providing education to make a good human being out of a child, or preparing them to become just an employee? In the show, (my character) Neli Weinberg is questioning that.”
The story of Selection Day revolves around two young boys who are forced to become cricketers to fulfill the dream of their father, who is obsessed with the game.
Ratna’s character runs a school that is trying to balance children to dream and not get forced to get into a system.
“A lot of young talent of our country, who do not get a chance to grow up like normal human beings, think about Sachin Tendulkar, who had to grow up faster when he played international cricket as young as 17 years old. This school of Neli is trying to make these two budding crickets grounded for their holistic development,” she said.
The mother of two sons — Vivaan Shah and Imaad Shah — said parents being less involved in the upbringing of children is also a negative thing.
She said, “Due to the commercialisation of education, parents (have) washed their hands off from children, they send them to school and for various courses for them to become someone. Kids are losing their individuality that way. Parents also believe that children are living in a state of idiocy and they should be told how to live life.”
Ratna’s last presence on the digital platform was in the Netflix original film Love Per Square Foot. She had earlier also talked about how digital platform is opening new gates to better stories as people are running out of new ideas in mainstream cinema and television. She also expressed her objection against the term ‘OTT,’ abbreviation for ‘Over The Top.’
She said, “It is not an over the top medium, really. Hopefully, this medium will talk about things around us, sometimes in an over-the-top manner and sometimes in a realistic manner. It is a medium that is offering great possibilities at the moment to the (entertainment) scenario in India. I think we have run out of story ideas in films, really. Nobody wants to put money in experimental stories. Even if they want, which is very few in number, they play it safe. They want a star, established names, one or two songs that will help them to promote the content.” She added, “Netflix or platforms of this nature are actually producing a story and putting up a show for what it is. They are telling the story for what it is, so the audience gets a chance to see new ideas.”
Ratna is known for her skilled acting on stage and in films like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Kapoor & Sons, Khoobsurat, Mirch Masala, Lipstick Under my Burkha.
So, what kind of scripts is she looking forward to these days?
The 55-year-old actress said, “Something that is different from what I have done before. It’s simple. I want to work on content that reflects contemporary India. I think that the time has come to tell our stories with honesty and without hiding or pretending and glorying over that more than often the Hindi cinema and television tend to do.”
Based on Aravind Adiga’s 2016 novel, eponymously-named and produced by Anil Kapoor, Selection Day also features actors Rajesh Tailang, Mahesh Manjrekar and Shiv Pandit. It will stream on Netflix on December 28.