Parambrata Chatterjee (© IANS News)

Mumbai (IANS) – Actor-filmmaker Parambrata Chatterjee, who has written and acted in the web series “Sharate Aaj” which deals with religious extremism and its consequences, says the present political situation is reducing the space for rational opinions. He finds it quite alarming.

On the inception of the show, Parambrata told IANS: “This is not the world I have grown up in… I am talking about all kinds of extremism — whether it’s the practice of terrorism, right-wing extremism or extremism practised by religious fundamental groups. These practices are lessening the space for rational moderate opinion very fast, and that is really alarming.

“We, the artistes with sensitive minds, are getting affected by the rapidly changing situation which is so negative. We are losing the practice of understanding each other. This bothers and disturbs me every day and the whole writing of the show’s story has come from that core thought.”

Asked if a lack of acceptance towards diverse opinions is a shame for the world’s largest democracy, Parambrata said: “Well, majoritarianism and populism is rampant in today’s India and that is also equally alarming as the other extremism we are talking about.”

Did he go through any self-realization on the subject while bringing it alive on-screen?

“Since I am the writer, the showrunner and also the actor, it was very tough to manage everything and we had to finish a series of things within a little time. Therefore, as an actor, I did not go through any self-realization while narrating the character as a performer.

“Having said that, such things happened when I was developing the story… when I was in the writing process,” added the “Pari” actor.

“Sharate Aaj”, set in and shot in London, streams on ZEE5. It also features National Award-winning actor Riddhi Sen, Payel Sarkar, Bidipta Chakraborty and Kanchan Mallik among others.

In the show, Parambrata, whom Bollywood audiences know for his role in “Kahaani”, plays a man named Mehmood.

“He is a man who is going through the worst phase of his life but is trying to maintain normalcy because he has realised that he has corroborated with the situation as things around him will flow the way they are supposed to… though there is a sea of conflict within him.”

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

–IANS
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