"We are soft targets": Sudhir Mishra opens up on Bollywood's recent controversy

Sudhir Mishra made his directorial debut with Yeh Woh Manzil Toh Nahin in 1987. The filmmaker later went on to direct Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Dharavi, Chameli and more movies. As of today, his upcoming movie is Afwaah, featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu.

Now, in an interview, the filmmaker has opened up about the censorship in the Hindi film industry. He further spoke about how censorship has become villainised by others outside. Outside the film industry, everyone has become a censor now. [If] I say something, everyone thinks they are allowed to bash me. That is dangerous. I find it hilarious that an industry, which changes its stories because a star said so, talks so much about censorship. It happens constantly. Some [star] says, ‘I don’t like this’, and [filmmakers] change [the script]. But then, they [also] complain about censorship."

He continued, "The villainisation of the industry is ridiculous. We are soft targets. [Sure], a lot of people in the business are overpaid, but 90 per cent of the people are hard-working. They do their work honestly. The film industry does good — it educates and entertains the audience for two hours. I think the country treats them badly. It is the government’s job to look after the film industry, which is a public service in my opinion. "Sudhir was the director on SonyLIV's web series Tanaav last year and the showrunner of its other web series Jehanabad - Of Love & War starring Parambrata Chatterjee this year.