Education, Careers & Professional News
Teach yoga in schools, says Jackie Shroff
Source
THE HINDU
Date
2005-08-09
Information
Children in schools should be taught yoga and the importance of a green environment. Now they are mostly taught how to make money. This is the opinion of Bollywood star Jackie Shroff. Views as different as he is from most actors.
In a free-wheeling conversation just before catching a flight (after a personal engagement in Bangalore), he was all appreciation for the information boom, thanks to the Internet, which is accessed by children even in small towns. But, certain things are missing in the present day education, he feels.
Why teach yoga? Because it makes you breath right and think right… many of us dont really breath the way we should to be healthy, he says. Schools should also teach better eating habits and how planting a tree is as important as building a career.
There is a welcome change in the way Hindi movies are being made now and the way audiences are reacting favourably to the change, Jackie feels. Film-makers are tackling new subjects and with a new approach. Younger film-goers appreciate that. He was all for this, because, look, 65 per cent of our population is below the age of 35 and they deserve something different that appeals to their tastes and imagination. The young have a different mindset and so do younger film-makers.
He was of the view that the young Indian wanted something different in treatment, even if the story is as old as time. After all, we do work to certain fixed plots but human emotions are the same every where. They can be shown differently though, and I rely on a strong screenplay and good direction, I go by the director and the results have usually been good, he said. Even a good actors potential comes out best with good direction.
When he does have time to spare, he doesnt read so much as he surfs the Web. He looks most often for information on topics like unusual architecture, organic farming, seismic zones and water management. The whole gamut of environmental issues fascinate him. Imagine water being bought and sold… after some years, we may even have to buy air to breathe if we are not careful now about our environment.
He has acted in roles as different as they could be: intense, brooding introverts and exuberant extroverts and everything in-between and obviously thrives on that non-typecast diversity. One of the films he has just finished is in Bengali - Antar Mahal. I play a 19th century Bengali zamindar with two wives. It is to be shown at a film festival overseas. There is also the Hindi movie `Divorce. I am a lawyer approached by a child who wants to divorce his parents. There is also Bhoot Uncle where he is a ghost who helps little children. There are other roles, comic and serious.
Remember what I said about Hindi films becoming different? he shoots in parting. He has a flight to catch.