“I always had the foresight that a day will come when people will either start committing suicides or start telling the world about the atrocities of

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By IndiaFM News Bureau, September 19, 2006 - 05:30 IST

"I have made the film out of sheer anger and disgust."

Manish Gupta, script writer of films like Sarkar, James, D, Darna Zaroori Hai is upset about the fact that a mother of the victim of ragging committed suicide last week. Also in less than a week’s time another incident of ragging was reported wherein a student from an engineering college was badly beaten by belt and tortured for around 8 hours.

One would get to see these real life atrocities being enacted in Manish Gupta’s next directorial venture titled Hostel. Hostel deals with the serious issue of ragging. It deals with the story of how in hostels homosexuality prevails in the name of ragging. Manish Gupta does not support the idea of ragging.

We spoke to Manish Gupta with regards to the recent incident of ragging that is being making news and the director expressed severe disgust over the act. “Ragging is fine till it is meant to be a tool for ice breaking between freshers and seniors. But there is a thin line which should not be crossed as there are serious hazards to ragging”, said Gupta.

“Ragging is a very serious issue. It has been prevailing since many years now. My film deals with this issue. Through my film I want to show the world what actually a victim of ragging goes through”, said Manish Gupta. We asked Manish to tell us about the similarities of these incident and the incidents in the film and he replied “Ragging is dangerous. I had the idea of this script 13 years ago when I was not a part of the film fraternity. I met this guy who was from Pune in MIT College. He was ragged to such an extent that he was raped almost every night by MEN. I was disgusted. The memory of the incident was so strong that I wanted the world to know about the hazards and the practices people follow in the name of ragging.

Two years back I started scripting the film and now the film is made. People should watch it to understand what a victim goes through. I have made the film out of sheer anger and disgust. The script was written in an outrageous mood. The incidents I have shown in the film are all real. I hate people who follow such practices in the name of ragging. I always had the foresight that a day will come when people will either start committing suicides or start telling the world about the atrocities of ragging. I want an awareness to be created so that no one commits a suicide due to ragging. There should be opposition and people should understand between what is right and what is not”