File photo of Nandita Das. (Wikimedia Commons)
File photo of Nandita Das. (Wikimedia Commons)

Bengaluru, Apr 16 (PTI)

Actress, director and social activist Nandita Das says social media is a great emerging platform that must be used judiciously instead of indulging in advocacy. A PTI report by B.D. Narayankar.

Actress, director and social activist Nandita Das says social media is a great emerging platform that must be used judiciously instead of indulging in advocacy.

“…I think we have to fight our battles and not just scream and shout about everything,” the actress, who recently was the target of attack by the twitteratti over her alleged comment that “all men are potential rapists,” said.

As the twitteratti slammed her, she then took to Twitter to say she has been misquoted.

“The social media is doing a lot of advocacy thing. They are doing petitions and actually stopping – I mean this whole net neutrality thing is done through social media,” she told PTI in an interview in Bengaluru, Apr. 16.

“I don’t want to vilify social media because I think it is a great emerging platform and it must be used judiciously.

I think we have to fight our battles and not just scream and shout about everything,” she said.

Das was in Bengaluru to attend a jewelry preview organized by Forevermark and Apranje Jewellers.

Also commenting on social media criticizing cricketer Virat Kohli’s girlfriend and Bollywood actress Anushkha Sharma for Indian team’s exit from the recent cricket World Cup, she said people make non-controversial issues as controversial.

“I just feel that we have made non-controversial issue, controversial. You know, we have to be able to choose our battles. What do we want to engage with – time is precious,” the 45-year-old actress said.

“Social media is a neutral platform – you can do very good with it and you can just while away your time,” she said.

Asked whether she gets Bollywood offers, she said she does but they are not her cup of tea. “I am getting Bollywood offers but it is not my cup of tea. Yes I get enough scripts but I am not interested in.”

For now, the actress, known for films like Fire, Firaaq, Earth, said she is focused on direction.

“Now I want to focus more attention on direction. If something comes good as a director, I will be more than happy to do it,” she said.

Apart from a film on Saadat Hasan Manto, who authored 600 short stories and 100 radio plays before his untimely death at the age of 42, she said she is working on an Australian project.

“Another project is an Australian project. It is about the aborigines. Initially I did not want to do it because I was in the middle of Manto project,” she said.

Throwing light on it, Nandita said the story is of an Indian woman and the Australian aborigine community.

“It is a story of an Indian woman and aboriginal community. It is interesting and I am working on the story. So I am doing two projects which have been more than I ever done,” she said.

Talking about Hollywood offers, Nandita said she has been a hesitant actress and stereotypical scripts have not interested her.

“I do get Hollywood offers once in a while, but they are stereotypically Indian in a sense the way they think the Indian women ought to be. I don’t want to name them — there are bigger ones as well. Something like TV operas which give you lot of money and lot of exposure, but I have always been an hesitant actress” she said.