Here is an interview of Shanmugam Muthusamy, director of the film Adangathey which has GVPrakashKumar and Surabhi in the lead, exclusively for India Herald regarding the on going Anitha's death issue, NEET exams and more.
1. To what extent this Anitha's death has affected you personally?
Ever since I heard this news, I have not been normal at all. This is something I couldn't accept. I have a daughter. She wants to be a doctor too. Whenever we hear such news, we would consider that as someone else's pain, but in Anitha's case, I feel like it's my own. I have lost my daughter Anitha and such is the state of mind I am in now. This is not just about me, everyone, be it you or me or others in Tamilnadu are feeling so. Whoever says Doctor Anitha is no more says that with a heavy heart and more than the anger, everyone feels sorry to have let this happen. I don't know how I'm gonna repay to this loss.
2. Whom do you think is responsible for this to happen?
We all are responsible. It all starts from the day we vote to select our rulers. If I'm not wrong only 53% of votes are polled. We don't know what the rest 47% of people have in their minds. Only when 100% voting is ensured, we would have elected a perfect party to rule. The second thing is when someone is doing wrong we bash them in social media. Why not do that in real? MLAs or MPs or Counsellors are all elected by us. When they are not doing their part correctly, we should have the courage to ask them. Point 3 is, we don’t give a damn unless/until the problem affects us. We should care for others. The care and voice we give to such political or public issues are very less when compared to that of the care we give to reality shows and their participants. We are worrying now after she has passed away rather than giving ears and support to Anitha when she wanted to pursue her studies. This carelessness of us is responsible for her death.
3. Anitha was fighting against NEET and she wanted to Ban NEET. What is your take on that? Do you also want to ban NEET or you think proper coaching has to be given and students must take NEET?
See I have two things to say here. One is, we have come a long way discussing NEET and all. But the reality is, we are yet to ensure a strong basement still. There are villages in Tamilnadu that don't have proper bus facilities, proper schooling facilities, proper toilet and constructions in school premises, etc. There are so many challenges faced by students to even study. First, ensure everyone are given all the facilities to pursue what they desire to study. And then if we talk about NEET, they would understand and prepare accordingly. When there are lots of problem in the base level itself, how can we expect them to accept NEET all of a sudden? Two is, Chennai is the medical capital of India. Be it from the first lady doctor in India to the best doctors in the country, all are from Tamilnadu and none has ever written this NEET exam.
4. You made a visit to Anitha's place and paid your last respect for her. Since you could witness the environment in which she had been all these years, can you share something about that?
To be honest, it took me aback when I saw her house and the village she is from. It was just an unfinished room with no proper toilet facility even. To have stayed in that place, studied and to have scored 1176/1200 in her board exam is a Himalayan task and that is like to have cracked 1000s of NEET exams with the max score. There is no proper transportation to that village, no hospital facility in that radius even. Anitha would have come across so many people suffer in her village without hospital facilities, probably that is why she wanted to become a doctor. Had she become a doctor, I'm damn sure she would have taken care of 1000s of people in that area. And only when poor people become doctors, they take care of other poor people rather than having a motive of making money.
5. Which politician do you think can handle this NEET issue in a proper way?
See, in my opinion, if we think politicians are ruling us, then you and I are fools. It is the big corporate giants that are ruling us and politicians are just mere puppets they use to get their things done. There is a business behind everything. And to answer your question, I don't think we have a potential politician who could help us or maybe the one whom we trust changes after being elected. I don't know.
6. Whom will Shanmugam Muthusamy support if these two make political entry? Rajinikanth or KamalHaasan.
Hahaha. This is too early to answer. Both of them know things much much better than us. They have been in touch with political personalities and are in a cordial relationship with many. We will have to wait and watch as who would make it to politics, what do they do when in power, how do they react to issues and then will have to take a call. If they do good and be in favor of the people, we are obviously going to support them. But let's see.
7. You have been voicing out to most of the issues and have actively participated in many protests. Any idea in becoming a politician?
To answer this in a single word, it is a straight yes. But it takes a lot of becoming a politician. Being there is not at all an easy task. For ex, I once noticed that there is no speed breaker in front of the school where my kids study. I asked the management to do the needful to put speed breakers. When this was taken to the concerned politician he said there is a rule that there should not be any speed breakers in the route a govt. bus travels. In this case, both are correct. So we had to collectively appeal to the area counselor and then to the people concerned to the collector to the higher authorities and then it got done. A politician should know to handle this. Being a common man we would criticize him for not laying speed breakers but there are a lot behind that we don't know. So yeah, I for sure would want to become a politician but before that, i have so much to learn and experience.
8. Finally your film with GV Prakash Kumar, Adangathey. Will this deal with the realistic politics or be a cinematic one?
Adangathey deals with realistic politics in a cinematic way. I don't know to make a love film wherein the hero and heroine would dance around a tree and all. I'm someone from a very poor background, have struggled a lot to be here, am still facing a lot of challenges, this film will have all the pain within. My films will be for the people, by the people, about the people.
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