Swara Bhasker on #OccupyGateway: Felt like old India was alive and well

B-Town stars including Bhardwaj, Kashyap, Sinha, Mirza, Akhtar and Pannu at Carter Road. Pics/Anurag Ahire

For those who believed Bollywood is happy to play a mute spectator to the nation's goings-on, Monday evening was an eye-opener. As several actors and directors - including Taapsee Pannu, Richa Chadha, Ali Fazal, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Hansal Mehta, Anubhav Sinha, Zoya Akhtar, Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj, among others - turned up at Carter Road in Bandra to stand in solidarity with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), it was evident that they will no longer be silenced. Even in the depths of despair, those gathered chose hope and courage, reciting lines from Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Hum dekhenge. As Swanand Kirkire sang his creation, Bawra mann from Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005), he called on everyone to dream for a better world.

Swara Bhasker

Swara Bhasker, whose family was in the JNU campus when masked men attacked students and faculty members on Sunday, told mid-day, "At the protests at Carter Road and the Gateway of India, there was a spirit of fraternity and commitment to our Constitution, which was uplifting. The Indian flag was waving everywhere and strangers were smiling at each other. It felt like old India was alive and well."

The protest, which kicked off at 8 pm, ended almost two hours later - but not before the gathering gave a huge round of applause to the Mumbai Police. It was, however, far from the end of the night for Fazal, Chadha, Sayani Gupta, Shweta Tripathi and rapper husband Chaitanya Sharma. At the stroke of midnight, as the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel glowed in the background, the stars joined the #OccupyGateway protest that has assumed a life of its own since Sunday.

Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal

"What you see here are artistes standing up for the value system that they believe in. [The protests] at both venues were beautiful because people were reciting poetry and singing songs. There was no hate or negativity. Like Anubhav Sinha said, this is to reassure the students that we are with them," shared Tripathi.

Kirkire sings Bawra mann

Fazal chose to convey his feelings through a verse he had penned:

Kuchh chhaatron ne milke ek mulk ko taakat di hai,
Hum thhoda baithe, thhoda bole, thhoda suney.
Dard bat ta hai toh josh banta hai, aasoon pochhaa toh sir uthhe,
Ab nikle hain haath phailaaye,
Aao sab aao, chalo galey mil aayein,
Tirange se lipat aayein,
tirange se lipat jaayein,
Hum thhoda baithe, thhoda bole, thhoda suney,
Chauraha nazdeek hai, aao gale mil aayein.

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