'If something happens to me, all these people are responsible'

Journalist turned filmmaker Pukazhenthi would not have imagined in his wildest dreams that he would have to go on a hunger strike to get his film certified.

But that is exactly what happened.

His second film, Kaatrukenna Veli, was refused certification by the censor board. The reason: one of the board members felt it was pro-LTTE. After knocking on all doors, Pukazhenthi, a Mahatma Gandhi follower, decided to go on a hunger strike.

When this reporter met him on the second day after he started the hunger strike in front of the Film Chamber office, he was quite energetic. Police arrested him on day three and took him to the government hospital.

But he continues the strike from hospital. Shobha Warrier met the director. Excerpts:

The censor board did not give permission to release your film, Kaatrukenna Veli because according to them, it was pro-LTTE. Is it?

The censor board said my film was pro-LTTE. The truth is, my film is a love story. A young Sri Lankan girl comes to Tamil Nadu for medical treatment. She falls in love with the doctor and vice versa. That is the story of my film.

Is the girl a Tamil militant?

At no point in the film have I mentioned that she belongs to the LTTE. All I have said is that she was a militant, a terrorist. In fact, my argument is that there are evidences in my film that show that she does not belong to the LTTE. You will not also find any evidence in my film to prove that she is a LTTE terrorist.

If your film is a love story, why do the censor board members feel that it is pro-LTTE? Is your film sympathetic to the militant girl?

I would say that the censor board members came to watch the film with preconceived notions. Let me cite an example. The name of my heroine is Manimeghalai.

As you know, there are five epics in Tamil. One of the heroines of which is called Manimeghalai. One of the censor board members actually asked me, "How could you name your heroine Manimeghalai?"

Must I get the censor board members' permission to do so? Why should I have to seek anyone's permission on what to call my heroine?

If that is so, they (censor board members) should circulate a written statement to all filmmakers stating that all of us should check with them before naming the characters! I'm just so tired of arguing with them.

The doctor's name is Subhash Chandra Bose. The hospital he works in is called Mahatma Gandhi Medical Centre. I named the hospital after Gandhi because I am a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, and not any political party.

Do you know what the censor board member said? She said, "You have given names like Bose and Gandhi to your characters. Do you think they supported Godse? How can you have names like Gandhi and Bose, and have them supporting a militant?"

How can I answer such ridiculous questions?

Who was the censor board member who said this?

She is Lalitha Subhash, a BJP member, and the only person dead against giving a certificate to my film.

We started shooting the film on February 10, 2000. The film was ready by May 31, 2000. All five members of the board saw it in the second week of June. Only she was against the film. The other four did not have any problem.

What are her objections other than the names of the characters?

She objected to the name of the heroine. She also objected to the fact that the girl came from Sri Lanka.

I asked her, "How could you brand her as LTTE just because she was a militant from Sri Lanka?

According to Subhash, when we mention Sri Lanka, only two names come to one's mind. They are Chandrika Kumaratunga and LTTE.

Now I know the members of the censor board do not have any general knowledge or political awareness.

The heroine of my film ultimately gets fed up of India and Tamil Nadu, and decides to go back to her land.

She says (in the film), "Í thought my motherland was Tamil Nadu. But now, I understand that I have no connection with Tamil Nadu at all. Let me go back to my own country."

Let me assure you once again that I have not hurt the sentiments of either the Indians or the Sri Lankans. I have not propagated any political message in the film. My film is about human beings.

Did Subhash object to the girl talking against India and Tamil Nadu?

Manimeghalai was not talking against India. She decided to go back only after the police started looking for her here in India. Then she requests the doctor to help her escape to her motherland.

But this is not the first film to be made with terrorists as protagonists. Santosh Sivan's Terrorist had a human bomb...

Yes, that was what I wanted to know, too. They could accept a girl appearing as a human bomb in Terrorist. They could accept an ULFA human bomb going to Delhi to kill the leader in Dil Se.

In my film, the girl did not come to India as a human bomb but as a wounded orphan. And she was treated by an Indian doctor. Which law says that an Indian doctor should not treat a wounded militant from Sri Lanka?

Did you not ask the censor board why they gave permission to films like Terrorist and Dil Se and not yours?

I did. But they told me I should not compare one film with another! What kind of an argument is that? Do they have different yardsticks for different films?

What inspired you to make this film?

I had worked as a journalist for 15 years with Dinamani. I was attracted by a case which became quite famous in those days; the Doctor Sridhar case.

He was arrested for sending medicines and prescription to Sri Lanka and subsequently jailed for three months. After he was released, he asked the Indian Medical counsel, "As a doctor, is it not my duty to give treatment to a patient? Tell me, was it wrong on my part to do my duty as a doctor?" This case had a major impact on me then.

Just a few months ago, there was a news item in Junior Vikatan that four flights full of medicines were to be despatched to Sri Lanka from Trivandrum airport, to heal the wounded Sri Lankans.

There was also a small news item in the same magazine. It said that the coast guard at Kodiyakkarai would see to it that no wounded Sri Lankan soldier entered the coast for treatment. Kodiyakkarai is the shortest distance between India and Sri Lanka -- just 22 km. I was aghast to read the contradictions in these two news items.

What message do you want to convey through your film?

A man cries for help -- he can be a Tamilian, a Sri Lankan, a Malayali, a Telugu -- but you are not ready to help him. As human beings, should we not help someone when we hear him cry?

I also want to say that a doctor is a human being first. The doctor in my film is an Indian citizen, and he knows that he has to follow certain rules and regulations. He treats her wounds as her life is in danger but decides to inform the police once she is out of danger.

Do you support the LTTE?

I have not gone to the political aspect of the struggle at all.

There was a Sinhalese film in which the Tamil fighters say that the soil on which they fight belongs to them. That film was okayed by the Sri Lankan government.

Here, I have not uttered a single controversial statement in my film. But it has been banned in India. I think I will get permission only from the Sri Lankan government! Chandrika Kumaratunga is more democratic than these people! She might definitely have given me permission, but not Lalitha Subhash!

I am saying this with a lot of pain.

Finally, and most important, why did you go on a hunger strike? Is it because you are a follower of Mahatma Gandhi?

Yes. I believe in Ahimsa. I am fighting for a cause which I feel is right. This is not the first time that I have done this. During my postgraduate studies, I had to resort to this, too.

And I made the so-called obstinate MGR change his stance. You see, he had closed all the colleges in Tamil Nadu. I got education only because a man called Kamaraj offered free education to all the poor people in the state.

When MGR decided to close the colleges, I felt he had no right to deny us the opportunity. So I went on a hunger strike in front of the Presidency College, where I was studying.

My hunger strike went on for nine days. The authorities told me that they would open the colleges if I stopped my strike. But I insisted that they open the colleges first. Finally, they gave in.

See, there is nothing in the world that we cannot do. We will not die if we don't eat for 15 or 20 days. Gandhi survived without eating for 44.

I don't expect any solution to this problem immediately because I have been running after the tribunal for several months. And I did not receive any concrete answer from them.

You won't believe it. But they first asked me to come after 15 days, then a month. And so it went on.

I will remain here without food till my problem is solved.

If something happens to me, all these people are responsible.