Television is killing creativity of children: Subodh Bhave
| Date :05-Jan-2020 |
By Kartik Lokhande :
More than connecting, social media has disconnected people, feels the critically acclaimed actor-director
THESE days, children are glued to television screens. This has become a cause of concern for parents. Subodh Bhave, noted actor-director, has a solution to help such worried parents. He has become a storyteller to counter the influence of television. Stressing that television was killing creativity of children, Bhave said that telling story to children in households and then asking them to visualise it was the best mode of boosting their creativity.
In the city for the upcoming two shows of classic Marathi drama ‘Ashroonchi Zali Phule’, Bhave was interacting with mediapersons at Press Club here on Saturday. Incidentally, Saturday was also the day when he started his initiative ‘#Subodh Dadachi Goshta’ on his ‘YouTube’ channel. Speaking about the initiative, the acclaimed actor said he was used to listening to bedtime stories from his grandparents in his childhood. Today, in nuclear families, parents do not have time to tell stories to children. Also, the children keep watching cartoons on television.
“Whatever is being dished out as children’s stories has the highest degree of violence. Childhood is the best part of life for creativity to flourish, and television is killing the creativity of children,” he observed. While doing the drama ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’, Bhave said, after a busy day he used to go to sleep visualising how would a particular scene look like if the drama was converted into a movie. “I could do this, because of listening to bedtime stories from grandparents. It helped me a lot when I made ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’ movie, and it got overwhelming response from the people,” he said. In ‘#Subodh Dadachi Goshta’, the popular actor tells stories without any animation.
“I ask the children to close their eyes while listening to stories and visualise the characters and places. Each child thinks differently. Hence, in every child’s imagination, the same character and place may have different shades and forms. To encourage children to express themselves creatively, I also ask them to draw pictures based on the stories I tell and send them to me,” he elaborated.
Bhave will be telling stories of festivals, animals, Shiv Jayanti celebrations, children’s stories from different parts of India, trying to make them creative. Asked about the recent suicides of young actors and sense of frustration among youngsters, the actor known for portrayal of legends said that the situation was not such previously. “The bygone days were simple,” he said. Then, he continued, there were people who could be looked at, trusted, and who could guide one in right direction.
Today, the situation has changed. There are more chances of getting misled,” he rued. Social media also is negatively impacting lives, Bhave felt. More than connecting people, which was supposed to be its objective, it is disconnecting people. Youngsters are having countless friends on social media, but there are not many who could be trusted. “There is dearth of a true friend who would just listen to you, and not give you any advice. Besides, media dishes out a lot many things, and people believe in those without verifying the same. All these factors put together have widened the trust deficit,” he lamented.
The actor referred to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Balgandharva, and Dr Kashinath Ghanekar -- the characters he has portrayed convincingly in movies. According to him, they all were obsessed with something. Of them, Tilak and Balgandharva got someone who blessed them with ‘sanskaar’ and a direction that changed their life. Dr Ghanekar was a brilliant and passionate man. Unfortunately, he said, he did not get someone who could give a positive direction to his life. It matters a lot if one gets a mentor who could give a positive direction to a person.
Today, there is too much depression because of a lot of negativity around and the lack of good mentors and people who one could trust, Bhave observed. “It is difficult to handle. Some people are unable to handle the situation and they take the extreme step. However, in such a situation, it is very much required to find a place, a person, or a thing that can give positive energy and lend strength to rise again after failure,” he added. Asked about his special connect with Nagpur, Bhave said that he had done the first show of his play in Nagpur in his college days.
Besides, he added, legendary theatre personality Purushottam Darwhekar had directed the play ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’, which is very close to his heart. Since the actor is known for authentic portrayals of protagonists in biopics, the question about his next such project was obvious. Asked if he would do a biopic on Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, he said that already ‘Babuji’ Sudhir Phadke had made the biopic years ago. Now, some people are trying to make a biopic on Savarkar. “My best wishes are with them,” he said. On the ongoing protests against Citizenship Amendment Act, he said that the Parliament had passed the law with some thought. “Unless I understand that thought fully and go through the details relating to the law, it will be unfair for me to either support or oppose the law,” he stated.