In this age of social media, nothing that cinema does will shock, says Mahesh Bhatt

Mumbai: Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt says that with the advent of digital technology, nothing in cinema shocks audiences anymore. “After entering the digital age, all the content that the world produces is at your fingertips. There is nothing happening through the medium of cinema which is so shocking or which leaves you stunned,” Bhatt said when asked if cinema negatively influences the audience. He spoke to the media on the sidelines of the Global Symposium on Gender in Media discussion here, where he was a panelist. [caption id=“attachment_2598438” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mahesh Bhatt. Screengrab. CNN-IBN[/caption] While Bhatt has made different kinds of films over the years – directing strong women-oriented characters in films such as “Arth”, “Zakhm”, “Daddy”, “Tamanna” among others while also producing film franchises such as “Jism”, “Murder” and “Raaz” which had a fair share of skin show and sexually explicit content. Regarding the portrayal of women in films in general, he said: “There are different views on this, some people believe that wearing certain kind of clothes is disrespectful to them, but if women want to wear certain outfits with their own wish, then they have complete freedom for it." “We should neither push anyone to wear a swimsuit or push someone to wear a ‘ghunghat’. That’d depend on the person’s thinking,” he added. However, he also agreed that some of the controversies are indeed true. “There are numerous controversies that we have been hearing since a long time that cinema hasn’t treated women in that manner and that they have been objectified. This is true to a certain extent. But it is also true that whenever such things have happened, ‘Arth’, Zakhm’ and ‘Daddy’ kind of films have also been made,” he said. Bhatt, through the banner Vishesh Films, is set to come out with another film with sensual content called “Love Games” this year. Vikram Bhatt has directed the film. IANS