‘The event must be worthy of the national anthem’

Bollywood stalwarts voice their opinions on the incident where a family was asked to leave a cinema hall for not standing up when the national anthem was being played

Anupam Kher

video on social media went viral with the news of a couple being heckled in a cinema hall for not standing up when the national anthem was being played. The Hindu caught up with Bollywood celebrities for their views.

Actor Anupam Kher

You can keep debating on the merits and non-merits of playing the national anthem before or after a film. I don’t mind it, playing it is fine for me. But I understand that some may find it problematic.

However, there can be no discussion or debate about one thing , that if the national anthem is playing and if you are an Indian, then you must stand up for it. You must stand up for your pride in India, you must stand up for the soldiers on the front protecting you. My eyes well up with tears when I see and hear the national anthem playing in a cricket match. And it’s a matter of just 90 seconds. It’s not that you are being pushed into doing something unbelievably bad.

Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra

I always stand up for the national anthem. I sometimes even sing along. It gives me a feeling of community. As long as someone else doesn’t disturb me while I do so, I don’t impose my views on anyone else. My feelings are shaped by my scientist father and my grandfather, who was a freedom fighter. In fact, my mother can barely get up but she still stands up for it and doesn’t impose her views on anyone else.

I am not known to be the jingoistic sorts. It has been a childhood thing for me but I don’t get judgmental if someone doesn’t stand up. In fact, I don’t look here and there to see who is standing or not while it is playing. Why should I be doing that? What affronts me is when the national anthem plays before a bad, vulgar, obscene film.

Producer-writer-lyricist Amit Khanna

I think that it was after the 1971 war that the national anthem used to be played in cinema halls all over India. After a few years, it was left to the States to decide and it began to fade away. It was revived again after the Kargil War in 1991.

Now, the national anthem is played before a film only in Maharashtra as per a State government order of 2003. I remember in the aftermath of 26/11, it matched with the mood of the people.

I would be offended if someone doesn’t stand up when it is being played.

The Constitution has to be honoured. But it is debateable as to why make it mandatory for films when it is not played before a circus or a theatrical or musical performance.

Writer-director Charudutta Acharya

As a film-goer, I have no problem with the national anthem being played before a film and I stand up for it as a citizen of India. If it was not playing, I’d be okay with that too though it is not the best of things to play inside a cinema hall. I like a few of those films.

The one with musical instruments makes me happy for classical music. I like the one with hearing and speech impaired children. Having said that, it is also a no-brainer to assert that violence and goonda behaviour shouldn’t happen. You can’t take law in your hands and become all jingoistic.

There is so much else to rage about. Instead why don’t they throw out people who constantly keep talking on the phone?

Actor Adil Hussain

I was with the National Cadet Corps and since childhood, whenever I hear the national anthem, I stand up for it automatically. It’s a subjective thing. I would stand up if it played.

Whether it should play in a cinema hall or not is another issue. To invoke nationalism before a film you may not like, isn’t it trivialising the anthem? It should be played at an event that is worthy of it.

We trivialise it so often by playing it before a lousy movie.

We are all in a reactive mode – disregarding, disrespecting. In any debate these days, there is an attitude of total rejection of the other point of view. We must have an avenue or scope for dialogue. Physical fights are not the way to go. This is taking us down the ladder and in a crisis situation.

Filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta

I think that the practice of playing the national anthem after every show should not be mandatory. It was a practice in Kolkata some two decades ago but got phased out. Having said that, when I know it is a practice and I am still attending a show, then I should stand up for it. I have to show it respect and it could be any moment in any country. I may not follow the language or culture but I stand up for any country’s national anthem. You cannot justify the heckling either.