Why won’t our actors speak up like Streep?

Actor Meryl Streep’s speech at this year’s Golden Globe Awards was lauded by many. In her brave address, Streep slammed US President elect Donald Trump for his immigration policies, among other things. Following this, people in India have taken to social media to point out why Bollywood celebrities never speak up against politicians. “LOLing hard at all the Bollywood people who will say WHOA RESPECT MERYL STREEP, but won’t speak up against Raj Thackeray here (sic),”tweeted popular comedian Rohan Joshi. However, the film industry was quick to respond and said that unlike Meryl, they don’t get support from any quarter when they speak out against politicians.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who hailed Streep as a “goddess” says, “Artists from the film industry usually stay away from anything political fearing repercussions either from trolls or political outfits.” However, filmmaker Pritish Nandy thinks that a celebrity does not have the “responsibility” to share his opinion in public. “You can’t force anyone to be vocal about politics,” he says. Musician and singer Rahul Ram says India is yet to reach that stage, where like in the US, celebrities can feel safe even after criticising politicians or policies of the government.

Unlike politicians, we don’t have foot soldiers to protect us. When I spoke in favour of Pak artists I was called anti-national MAHESH BHATT, FILMMAKER We in our film industry don’t even need to give a speech like Meryl Streep if we just start standing up with those who actually speak up ANURAG KASHYAP, FILMMAKER, ACTOR Bollywood actors stay away from anything political fearing repercussions either from trolls or political outfits HANSAL MEHTA, FILMMAKER We have some of the biggest stars on earth and all of them have been beaten down for speaking up. Ms. Streep has freedom. We have a mirage VISHAL DADLANI, SINGER-COMPOSER