'Alagi' man exhorts women to join politics

Thankar Bachan speaks at the valediction of Wings’14

Film director Thankar Bachan handing over a trophy to the winners of competitions held as part of Wings ’14 at Cauvery College for Women inTiruchi on Thursday. K.Rengarajan, secretary, College Governing Council, isseen. Photo: M. Moorthy

Come join politics and get your 55 per cent reservation, said Thankar Bachan, film director, to girl students at the valedictory function of Wings’14 held at Cauvery College for Women here on Thursday.

Dance, theatre, music, art, fashion, and literary events marked the 20-day interdepartmental programme organised by the Wings club of the college.

Mr. Bachan, whose popular films include

Alagi ,

Pallikoodam and

Solla Marantha Kadhai , delivered an emotional speech for nearly 2 hours, where he touched various issues such as alcoholism, crimes against women, and movie piracy.

He urged students, especially women, to enter politics and usher in change. He said that women need 55 per cent and not 50 percent reservation. “Merely asking for your rights will not do, it is like begging. You must be the change; enter politics, and ensure the implementation of 55 per cent reservation for yourself,” he told the students of the all-women college. “Make yourself visible, break all barriers, you have all the abilities to succeed. Make your identity stand out. Only then the problems you face in the society will be solved,” he said.

Mr. Bachan, who is also an actor, producer, cinematographer and novelist, lamented that ‘we’ (Indians), neglect our mother tongue and favour the English language . “In foreign countries such as France, people give a lot of importance to their mother tongue . There is hardly any English spoken there. But in India we embrace foreign languages such as English and forget our roots – our mother tongue,” he said.

He also said that people are relying too much on the freebies provided by the government and are becoming lazy . “True freedom will be achieved only when we stop relying on freebies and decide to support ourselves by working hard ,” he said. Mr.Bachan distributed prizes to the winners of the various competitions of Wings ’14.The overall winners were the students of B.Com, while the overall runners were the BCA students. Individual championships were won by BCA (for art), B.Com (for literary and music), B.C.A and C.Sc (for dance) and B.T.S (BBA, Tamil, Social Work) (for theatre).

A music programme by Karisal P.Thiruvudayan, Kalaimamani awardee and D.Bharatwaj, followed.

A.Sujatha, principal of the college, and K.Rengarajan, secretary, College Governing Council, were present.