A scintillating conversation between Mahesh Bhatt and Shobhaa De warmed up the opening session of Spring Fever 2013, presented by Penguin Books India and Visual Arts Gallery. Eram Agha heard them out
The opening session of Spring Fever — Never a dull De — between Mahesh Bhatt and Shobhaa De turned out to be a fiesta of memories, a perspective on women, sexuality and ageing that involved guests and listeners from across the age groups. Both share a very special bond that dates back to the days of Swabhimaan, for which De was the scriptwriter and Bhatt directed it. That’s not the only common thread between them, “We both love modak, I was promised a treat of the sweet for being here, we went to the same college, I was a drop out though,” Bhatt said.
Shobhaa, who turned 65 in January bubbled with youthful energy, and Bhatt, her partner in the celebration of life said, “Autumn is another spring where every leaf becomes a flower.” later we discovered the things that keep Ms De young and hearty! “I keep pace with the language that youth uses today. The abbreviation they use while texting and the new spellings they create to say things I find all that very interesting. Sometimes my daughter’s cell phone becomes my teacher of new language and she decodes it to me!” she said.
When two creative people sit together for a chat, the discussion on the influence of times on their craft cannot be ruled out. Bhatt, who made films like Arth and Saraansh, before 1992 and then changed with the time to create Aashiqui asked De, about how the style of writing changed for her after 92, when the economy liberalised, “The only way I know how to write is the way I write,” she said.
People in the audience nodded in agreement when De said, “Today I don’t have that emotional baggage of 70s and 80s called guilt. We felt guilty of being rich and successful. Our parents made us feel so. I remember how excess of anything was regarded vulgar… But today children take lifestyle for granted, they celebrate success. And we glorified sacrifice! Our movies celebrated that, didn’t theyIJ”
The topic of women safety caught the attention as De revealed how her outing to the Bengali Market two days back in Delhi was spoilt by few men, who brushed past her and made suggestive comments. “They were well dressed and made passes at me. When they heard my order to the shopkeeper one of them said, ‘Madam ko woh gol, gol cheez dena,’ in a very suggestive way,” she said. Women are moving out for personal and professional reasons, at hours suitable for them, but men would need a generation’s time to be able to understand that as someone from the audience asked De, “Would you give men a generation’s time to be able to match womenIJ”
The discussion on women and power brought a very interesting tone to the night, Bhatt who grew up with four women — his mother and three sisters, said, “I have grown up listening to my mom. And always thought that they would be best if given power… but then during the Iraq war some sorry images of American women posing with thumbs up in the backdrop of dead bodies of Iraqi soldiers disappointed me.” Hearing this De said, “It is only when women start copying men that they end up painting such a picture.” There were more such references to women and sexuality and how comfortable are men with it. Both discussed what makes a script or a manuscript click. The answer on both cases is, “A good story should be able to engage from page one!” De said. After the discussion Menwhopause performed.