Ashish Sharma: We shouldn’t get carried away with narratives woven around ideologies

I feel certain stories are the need of the hour, relevant to the current times and to the socio-political narratives. We need a balanced narrative in the country. I know, people will find fault, as this subject has been made into a controversy,” says Ashish Sharma, who after his award winning film Khejdi (2018), is working on Karan Razdan’s Hinduvta.

“It’s a sensitive topic. There are certain narratives woven around the ideology and which leads to trolling. I think every ideology will always have an opposition. Amidst, the debates, we lose the balance, the truth and what Hindutva really stands for. The meaning has got diluted somewhere down the line. People who are for are defending it, ones against the ideology are trying to malign it. So, the meaning of the word has changed. Our country has always been about balance. Cinema has the reach and power to tell people that we shouldn’t get carried away with narratives woven around things and we should apply our own understanding and find our own meaning of ideologies,” says Sharma.

His last project was the web series Modi: Journey of a Common Man (2019), based on the life of PM Narendra Modi, where he played the role of a young Modi. Doing back-to-back projects with a political angle is something he is drawn to and vice versa, says Sharma, adding, “I believe that, in the largest democracy, if someone says they are apolitical, I think they are lying or not figured out things. Everyone is political as our daily lives are affected by government’s decisions. You are directly responsible for the govt as it is answerable to you. So, you are part of the system, by default. You have to have a political view and maybe you don’t practice or realise it. I have been aware of my political view as due to my upbringing was such that I was aware of the system. Today, I know about the country’s issues and the political scenario is. But as for projects, it was not a conscious choice to choose political subjects, they just happened.”

After a long career on TV, and hit shows including Rangrasiya and Siya Ke Ram, of late, he is seen intermittently. He claims that’s as he has not found interesting project. “Earlier, the stories were engaging for me but later, the stories started getting exhausting and I couldn’t explore much so I didn’t want to do TV. I distanced myself from the run-of-the mill and wanted to find stories that push myself. With OTT, many good stories have come, which wouldn’t have been possible 3-4 years ago,” says the actor who shot for a suspense thriller last year.