Nandita Das: "I am neither a flag-flying lesbian champion nor hold any authority on it"

Actor and director Nandita Das attends an event of National Centre for Promotion of Employment for disabled people, with Javed Abidi. On being asked what she thinks about the lesbian role which she portrayed in one of the most controversial films 'Fire'. She says: "I will make it little more general and say that anything less in numbers what we call a minority any kind I think we as a society have become a bit insensitive, intolerant and we have forgotten this whole philosophy which I think is the belief 'Live and let live". I am not a flag lesbian champion or anything, it's not like I have read fifty books about it or I am the authority on it. It's just because of doing the film and not so much during the film but after the film my interaction with various films, the only thing I can say is that it is very different from the way we are conditioned to believe. It's always looked down upon, the whole idea is being sensitive to the issues. things are changing I mean I am a die-hard optimist. I mean things are changing the way that they are in this country." Nandita Das is an actor and director. She has acted in more than 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das has been acclaimed for numerous performances, including in Fire, Earth, Bawandar, Kannathil Muthamittal, Azhagi, Kamli, and Before The Rains. Das is the first Indian inducted into the International Hall of Fame of the International Women's Forum in Washington, DC. She was recognized in 2011 for "her sustained contributions to the arts and to the world as one of the most gripping cinema arts leaders of our time who has shown us what both feet-on-the-floor authenticity looks like and how keeping your values in focus and applying your talent can fuel women and the world forward."Her fellow inductees were Anna Fendi, Heidi Klum, and Madam Chen Zhili This footage is part of the broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The collection comprises of 150, 000+ hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on 4K, 200 fps slow motion, Full HD, HDCAM 1080i High Definition, Alexa and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Please subscribe to our channel wildfilmsindia on Youtube    / wildfilmsindia   for a steady stream of videos from across India. Also, visit and enjoy your journey across India at www.clipahoy.com , India's first video-based social networking experience. Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and [email protected] To SUBSCRIBE click the below link: www.youtube.com/subscription_center?a... Like & Follow Us on: Facebook: www.facebook.com/WildernessFilmsIndiaLimited Website: www.wildfilmsindia.com