MUMBAI: Asked at the trailer launch of his upcoming film Hope Aur Hum on Monday for his opinion about the rape and murder of an eight-year-old child in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua, iconic actor Naseeruddin Shah, “Well, rape is not a new phenomenon, such horrors have always happened; but the positive thing is, these days such cases are reported more.”
“In fact, there is a very wonderful thing that I read yesterday in a newspaper where a rape survivor was saying that why should the victim has to hide her face? It should be, in fact, the accused, who committed the crime who should be ashamed, the ones to hide their faces. It’s a threatful situation… I guess it’s a good thing that media is so alert about all these things nowadays.”
“It definitely makes our morning horrifying, as the moment you open the newspaper, such news appears. But it is good that such incidents are talked about.” Naseeruddin admitted that he doesn’t know if this is the solution.
“We are talking about a generational change of mindset, that cannot happen overnight. What we can do, is to trend set the example in our personal lives. We cannot keep on policing or not every girl possibly keeps a pistol or learns martial arts. It has to begin with us, with each one of us,” said the veteran actor.
The trailer launch was attended by the cast and crew of the film including actress Sonali Kulkarni, Naveen Kasturia, along with child actors of the film and director Sudip Bandyopadhyay.