Daily Times

MUMBAI: Iconic actor Naseeruddin Shah feels disturbed at the recent barbaric rape and murder cases of young girls, springing about from every corner of the world lately. He says that more rape cases are reported to the police and media these days as compared to earlier, which is “a positive sign”.

Responding to a question asked from him at the trailer launch of his upcoming film Hope Aur Hum on Monday, which related to the rape and murder of an eight-year-old child in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua, he said, “Well, rape is not a new phenomenon, such horrors have always happened; but the positive thing is, these days such cases are reported more.”

“In fact, there is a very wonderful thing that I read yesterday in a newspaper where a rape survivor was saying that why should the victim has to hide her face? It, in fact, the accused, who committed the crime should be ashamed, they should hide their faces. It’s a threatful situation… I guess it’s a good thing that media is so alert about all these things nowadays,” he added.

Admitting that he doesn’t know of a solution to this problem, he said that it surely makes our morning horrifying when the moment you open the newspaper, such news appears. “But it is good that such incidents are talked about”.

The veteran actor said, “We are talking about a generational change of mindset, that cannot happen overnight. What we can do, is to trend set the example in our personal lives. We cannot keep on policing or not every girl possibly keeps a pistol or learns martial arts. It has to begin with us, with each one of us.”

The trailer launch was attended by the cast and crew of the film, which included actress Sonali Kulkarni, Naveen Kasturia, director Sudip Bandyopadhyay and child actors of the movie.

Hope Aur Hum is slated for release on May 11.