Mahesh Bhatt comes out in cartoonist’s support

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has come out in support of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, saying freedom of art is important for a peaceful society.

‘I believe a society where you don’t give anyone a chance to express their anger via art, very dangerous people are born there. They then tell the same thing with the help of a gun and bullets,’ the 63-year-old said at a press conference called here Tuesday to support Aseem.

‘So it’s very important in a free society to create spaces where the angst of the young finds expression. Dissent is the life blood of a free society, that is the wealth,’ he added. Trivedi was arrested last Saturday by Mumbai Police which charged him, among other things, with sedition for insulting national emblems and the Constitution during the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare here December 2011.

The Bombay High Court, however, granted bail to the jailed cartoonist Tuesday. A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Nitin Jamdar granted the bail, following a public interest litigation filed by lawyer Sanskar Marathe.

Bhatt, known to come out in the open on matters of such magnitude, feels it's time to fight a long battle.

‘Human tendency is such that when he gets the whip in his hands or sits in a position of power, he becomes cruel and uses the same whip which he had stood up against earlier. So I think it’s time to fight a long battle,’ Bhatt said. The producer-director has for long championed causes.