'Bans taking toll on Mumbai's cultural life'

MUMBAI: Goino Banks remembers wat ching in a daze as Shiv Sainiks went on a rampage at the Mumbai Press Club less than a year ago. Banks was there to talk about his upcoming collaboration with Pakistani band Mekaal Hasan, and Sena was predictably outraged by yet another happy cross-border cultural link.
“It was unfortunate. It still is,“ says the musician, considered one of the most prolific drummers from India.Just like their collaborative album, the now-cancelled concert by Ghulam Ali is about music. The concert stands cancelled after Sena used its well-worn rant about not engaging with Pakistan in times of border conflict.“It is a tricky situation as some groups seem to have strong sentiments. I don't know how to overcome it as a musician,“ says Banks.
He is not alone. Filmmakers have long learnt to toe various unwritten rules so that there is no censorship post-release. “Filmmakers are particularly vulnerable as anybody can take offence and slap criminal charges.Sometimes, we censor ourselves in anticipation of the protests. That is the worst,“ says filmmaker Mamta Murthy .
The bans are beginning to take a toll on the city's cultural life. “It was a place where the current form of Hindustani music came to be and where Indian cinema took root. Now, it is no longer a site of creativity as people are getting bogged down by old prejudices and buying into this kind of political hatred,“ says Murthy .
Lawyer and organizer of Kabir Festival Falguni Desai says though such protests, especially those by the Sena against Pakistani artistes and sportspersons, are nothing new, the government needs to take a stand.

“We are pretty much at the mercy of whichever group has the might. If there are clear cut norms from the government about such perfor mances, we can at least go to court for redress,“ says Desai. The arts collective gets requests from Pakistani performers eager to come to Mumbai. “What do we do as we don't have funds to provide security to them,“ she says. Artists and event organizers have their hands tied in such situations. “If artists get visa that means the government has given permission. So what the Sena did is illegal,“ she says.
Sociologist and academician Kamala Ganesh says more groups seem to be emulating Sena's style of protest, referring to the Catholic Se cular Forum's efforts to ban the play `Agnes of God'. She says the beef ban, especially to have a prolonged ban during the Jain festival Paryushan, has a larger political implication and shouldn't be clubbed with Sena-style protests. “The recent protests show various groups are flexing their muscle and using Bombay to test their strength,“ she says.
“When the government imposes bans on books or plays, there is legal recourse, but when bans are created by fear there isn't one,'' says senior counsel Amit Desai. “It is this kind of situations that effectively break down the rule of law,“ he adds.
Other legal experts reiterate the sombre message in Desai's words. “In cities like Mumbai, which are striving to become world-class cities which can attract international talent in the field of arts, artists should feel welcome without any sense of fear.Take London, New York or Dubai. Artists come and perform without any worry ,'' he says.
The worry that looms lar ge for the future or cultural growth is the “ease with which rights to freedom of speech and expression are getting trampled on.'' Despite the state government offering to allow the programme to go on as planned under police protection, the organizers backed out, raising the question of whether governance in the state was rapidly weakening to allow political allies to bully their way through.
Lawyers said the Sena's stand sends a message that as a city you are not growing above petty politics and allowing regressive intolerance in the area of arts.
A senior lawyer said freedom of expression as part of constitutionally guaranteed rights are subject to “reasonable'' restrictions that can be imposed on by a law, not through “muscle-flexing'' by politicians.
Another senior lawyer S G Aney says, “No one can act beyond what the Constitution says.'' He says law and the state must make sure that law is not broken.