Mumbai: National award-winning actress Shweta Basu Prasad, portraying a journalist in the film ‘The Tashkent Files’, has said that searching for truth can, at time, cost life as the powerful tend to suppress voices.
‘The Tashkent Files’, released on Friday, revolves around the mysterious death of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966, soon after signing the ‘Tashkent Agreement’ between India and Pakistan to end the 1965 war.
“Ragini (Shweta’s character) starts the investigation into the Shastri’s mysterious death because she was looking for a scoop and wanted to prove herself to the organisation. But deeper she delved into it, she felt determined to know the truth behind the death. But eventually she realised truth-seeking is highly costly in India,” Shweta told this agency Saturday night.
According to her, the practice of ‘honest journalism is always suppressed’ by the powerful. “If some gets fearless, he/she disappears and could eventually get killed,” Shweta said.
The 28-year-old actress admitted that she did not know much about the former PM’s life before getting on board for the film. “In school we really do not get to read much about him and that’s why we do not know much. It’s good that our generation is raising questions. Unless we question the narrative will not change,” Shweta pointed out. “Why even after 53 years, no one knows how Shastriji died?” the actress wondered.
Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, the film also features Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi and Pankaj Tripathi.
Shweta said she loved working with the veteran actors., “I worked with Naseer uncle in ‘Iqbal’. Later I did a short film with him. I did a film titled ‘Ek Nadir Galpo: Tale of a River’ with Mithunda. Working with them again was great,” Shweta informed.
“These people are icons. One can learn so much just by observing them on set. I am really lucky, said the actress who started her journey in the Hindi film industry with the Shabana Azmi- starrer ‘Makdee’.