Don't show ragging casually in films: 'Hostel' director

New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) "Sarkar" writer Manish Gupta, who has wielded the megaphone for "Hostel" -- a movie on the horrific stories of ragging, has appealed to filmmakers to stop showing the practice in a comic fashion in movies.

"Though I loved and thoroughly enjoyed '3 Idiots' and 'Munnabhai MBBS', I was left a little dissatisfied at the way ragging was portrayed in both films since it was made to look funny.

"In my opinion, there's nothing funny about being stripped naked in front of the whole college and being tortured. I personally would compare it to rape or molestation made to look funny," said Gupta in a statment.

"Hostel" revolves around a student, played by actor Vatsal Seth who is ragged by his notorious seniors in the hostel. Also starring Tulip Joshi, the movie is releasing Friday.

"Ragging is a very serious and grave issue staring India in the eye today. Innumerable students have lost their lives to this menace. Many have been crippled for life, many have committed suicide due to the humiliation of public stripping," added the director, who has written hard-hitting, realistic films like 'Sarkar' and 'The Stoneman Murders'.

According to statistics, on an average 20 suicides and 15 other deaths are reported every year with ragging as the root cause.

"The government of India has outlawed ragging and made it a crime... Making someone's humiliation and torture look funny is as mean and cruel as making fun of a deaf and dumb person or making a cinematic joke out of someone who stammers," he asserted.

Gupta, who has also directed films like "Darna Zaroori Hai" and "The Stoneman Murders", researched for 17 years to portray "ragging exactly as it happens in all its violent and humiliating cruelty" in the country and "the psychological and physical trauma one goes through when it happens to him or her".

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