The silly and high-handed behaviour of these people, the Shiv Sena. Their acts of violence and lawlessness.

How can you appeal to the Government, when the Chief Minister (Manohar Joshi) is himself encouraging the acts of violence? The keeper of the law in the state is sanctifying lawlessness by congratulating the miscreants. He actually patted these people who broke into the cinema halls and violently stopped the screening of Fire. Now it is for the people who see such acts broadcast on the media to judge for themselves the ineffectiveness of the Government and their role in the violence. And it is for the courts to evaluate the miscreants.

That is because we are not fighting for one film alone. Fire has highlighted the problem that exists in all areas. There are other films that have suffered, there are plays that are not allowed to be staged. Books are banned arbitrarily, (M.F.) Husain'spaintings were vandalised. There was also the problem with hosting a cricket match with Pakistan recently. There is no stopping the Shiv Sena from engineering these vicious practices. The attacks on Fire were premeditated attempts to throttle the creative media and the creativity of the artistes.

No. It is to this whole culture of `thought police'. Everyone must have the right to express themselves the way they choose. And those who do not like it can disagree with it. But what the Shiv Sena has done is that only what they agree with can be portrayed, nothing else. Any form of protest is stifled by threats of violence, people are beaten up, property is vandalised. All this is stifling creativity. No one can predict how they will react to any creative expression.