Mahesh Bhatt, a prominent Indian film director, producer and screenwriter, was a member of the esteemed panel, during a panel discussion on the effects of genetically modified food, at IIT Delhi on the 13th of Feburary. Other members of the panel being, Ajay Kanchan, director of the documentary “Poison on the Platter”, Devinder Sharma, a noted food policy analyst based in Delhi and Varghese Mattamana, the Executive Director of Caritas India, the world’s second largest NGO, Mahesh Bhatt being a member of this NGO too.  Mr.Bhatt has keen interest in many of the social and developmental issues and has also addressed many of these through his films. Dipesh Mittal and Divyam Singhal got an opportunity to have a tete-a-tete with him during the same. Here is an excerpt from the conversation.

Sir, since when have you been a member of Caritas India?
A few years back, as you know, we witnessed the malice of nationwide droughts in India, leading to suicides of distraught farmers and their families. After getting moved by these pensive incidents, I decided to join Caritas India in 2007, to support its commitment to address these farmer suicide issues throughout India. Since then, it has been a great journey with this organisation. I’ve always given in my best helping efforts whenever needed, for various humanitarian tasks carried out by them.

How did you get involved in the move against Genetically Modified food, especially the BT. Brinjal issue?
Obviously, I’m not a scientist who could judge the negative effects associated with the usage of GM food products. But, of late, I was informed about the serious health hazards these kinds of foods have caused abroad, by this great man (points out his finger to Dr. Devindar Sharma, an eminent food analyst) He has been instrumental in bringing many like-minded organizations together to initiate the fight against the introduction of the deadly GM technology in food. I decided to help him in the cause, and with the help of Ajay Kanchan’s direction came up with a documentary on the same, “Poison on the Platter”. We hope to raise awareness among the people of India through this documentary.

How was your experience of being a member of a panel discussion at IIT?
I was overwhelmed by the warm welcome given to us by the IIT fraternity. It feels great to be standing at the podium of such a prestigious institution. We hope that this discussion would help in better penetration of this important information (awareness about GM food products) among the general public by first reaching out to the brightest youth of the nation.

Lastly, can you please tell us about your plans for the upcoming movies?
Well, we are just going to start the shooting of a movie, ‘Crooked’, with Imran Hashmi as the main lead. It would be a portrayal of the recent racial abuses and attacks on Indian students at Australia. It’s the story of a confident young man, who moves to Australia from India in search of a better life, but gets trapped in the racial turmoils down under, and how he finally copes up with everything.

Thank you sir for spending your time with us.
My pleasure.