Ashutosh Rana: Nothing better than satire to present your point

His fierce and menacing on-screen characters may have painted him a villain in the mind of audience, but talk about putting pen to paper and the actor-turned writer Ashutosh Rana's favourite genre is "satire". Rana was speaking at the inaugural edition of Tagore International Liteture and Arts festival, "Vishwa Rang" at Minto Hall.

He said satire is one -- and may be the only -- way to present your point about the bad, the worse and the ugly of the society without offending anyone. "It is only through satire that you can talk about the deformed part of the society in a manner that people get to know the real truth without feeling bad or anything," said Rana, whose recent book "Maun Muskan ki Maar" consists of 27 such satires.

Narrating a funny childhood tale and how his father gave him the lesson of not being "blunt in criticism", which also was the inspiration behind his book, he said that was when he first picked the real meaning and importance of satire. He underscored that humour and satire are two different things. "When one understands things externally he laughs loudly which you say is 'humour', however, when one understands things internally there is a subtle smile on his face. This is what you call 'satire'," he explained.

His next book, which will release on January 15, 2020, on the occasion of Makar Sakranti, is titled "Ram Rajya". "There is a difference between Rajya and Raj. Where Raj means giving importance to an individual, Rajya means giving importance to arrangements for the well-being of people.

"So Ram wanted to form rajya -- not raj -- something that would work for the betterment and welfare of the society with or without the individual. This and more is what I try to tell through my upcoming book," he said. Describing Madhya Pradesh as India's "cultural centre" and Bhopal as India's "cultural capital", the 51-year-old actor, who is born and brought up in MP, said having a literature festival like 'Vishwa Rang' in the city is a step taken in right direction.

"It is the audience that makes an event successful. Now seeing such a huge crowd present here for the event, that too for its first edition, proves my saying right that the people of MP are literary inclined and thinking individuals. Also, this is the reason I think that festivals like these are of utter importance for the state," he added. Featuring over 500 national and international authors and artists, the four-day festival, organized by the Tagore International Center for Arts and Culture, aims to promote literature in Hindi and other Indian languages. The event will come to an end on November 10.