Dussehra Festival: Indian Celebs Share One Social Evil They Wish to Eradicate For a Better World
08:10 GMT 15.10.2021 (Updated: 20:50 GMT 19.10.2022)
© AFP 2023 / NARINDER NANU
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Dussehra, a popular ancient Hindu festival that symbolises the victory of good over evil, marks the triumph of Lord Ram who killed ten-headed demon Ravan and rescued his kidnapped wife, the Goddess Sita. From worshipping Hindu Gods, burning effigy of evil Ravan to bursting crackers, people celebrate Dussehra with much fanfare in India.
Soaked up in festive spirits, people across India today celebrate ‘Dussehra’, symbolising the victory of good over evil.
As Hindu devotees pray to the Gods for the triumph of good over the evils in their life, popular Indian actors tell Sputnik what one social vice they wish to see eradicated to make the world a better place for all.
From discrimination over religion, caste and colour to poverty, fake news, bad influence and crime against women and children, celebrities shared all the vices they wish to do away with.
Evil of judgement and discrimination
Actor-host Rannvijay Singh, 38, who shot to fame with the reality TV show 'MTV Roadies', feels that the habit of judging and discriminating against people is the biggest vice in society, dividing people and causing a lot of fights.
“There are a lot of people who are from different strata of society. People are discriminated against based on the upper or middle class, rich or poor, Hindu or Muslim, girl or boy. They are judged before their talent, hard work, skill, and background. That’s not real equality. I wish we could make a society where all of us are treated equally and build this great nation together,” Rannvijay tells Sputnik.
Actress Sayantani Ghosh, 37, who became famous for playing a human-snake in the supernatural TV serial 'Naaginn', feels that the need of the hour is to be a judgement-free society and be more empathetic towards people.
“We all have skeletons in our closets and issues in our life. Anything that we get to hear about someone or see in the news, even before knowing the facts and truth, we start making judgements and conclusions. We should be understanding towards people and situations, more accepting and empathic, and less judgemental,” Sayantani says.
Known for playing a cop' in the Hindi sitcom show F.I.R, actor Aamir Ali, 44, hopes to see a world of peace and no fights.
“I wish we could do away with fights that largely happen over caste, colour and religion. Be it the discrimination between blacks or whites in the West or fights over power and religion across the world, it is only depriving people of peace and joy. We should all just chill, be happy and let everybody live happily,” Aamir tells Sputnik.
Actor Vipul Roy, 37, who was last seen in a horror-comedy web series 'Booo Sabki Phategi', strongly believes that humanity is above all religion, caste and status, and one should uphold this and work towards it.
“The biggest social evil these days is dividing people based on religion, caste, colour status and gender. We all are humans first and we should treat every single individual as equals,” Vipul tells Sputnik.
Evil Habit of Comparing Oneself With Others
The 26th president of the US, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., rightly said that “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
Actress Chhavi Mittal, 37, who has been making digital content under 'Shitty Ideas Trending' on YouTube, believes that one evil habit which is been upheld in society and makes us conditioned since childhood is the practise of drawing comparisons with others. This, she feels, is making people feel insecure, envious, and discontent with their life instead of believing in their unique potential.
“Today, everything is about comparisons. And we start teaching comparisons to children right from their school days, where we tell them you have to be the best and come first. The minute you get their exam scores, we tend to compare with the best. We don’t even realise the habit of comparing is the leading cause of stress, mental illness, instability, and physical ailments,” Chhavi says.
Bad Influenced
The 35-year-old actor Sourabh Raaj Jain, who shot to fame for playing Hindu God Lord Krishna in the mythological TV serial 'Mahabharat', feels that under the pretext of being cool, people, especially the younger generation, follow the herd without realising if it’s really good for them and what importance it holds for them.
“One prominent evil in the society is setting wrong examples in the pretext of being cool which young generation get very easily influenced of and follow it blindly. Because it makes them look cool, youth follow the wrong path. I hope this evil of getting influenced to wrong things changes and people see beyond the outer bling,” Jain tells Sputnik.
Vice of Misinformation, Fake News
People on social media have been flooded with loads of information, most of which is unverified and untrue.
Actor Abhinav Shukla, 39, who last appeared in the reality game show 'Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi season 11' tells Sputnik that amid a rise in social media propaganda and fabricated news, people are easily getting deceived, distorted and misinformed.
“The biggest evil is the misinformation, not the information. Social media is a place where misinformation is spread like a wildfire. That’s the new 4G evil. Sooner we realise better it is,” Abhinav says.
Actress Kavita Kaushik, 40, who is known for playing a fearless cop in the sitcom show F.I.R, adds that people get easily manipulated and start believing what they see on news channels.
“The biggest evil in our society today is believing what we see on television or social media. This whole edited narrative of the truth shown by channels and public relation firms are more dangerous to our society,” Kavita tells Sputnik.
Poverty- A Man-Made Social Evil
One of the most prominent social evils is poverty, as it causes a notable disparity between the rich and the poor.
Actor Rohit Bose Roy, 53, who was in the TV show 'Sanjivani', strongly feels that to end poverty, we need to bring pay parity and reduce the gap between rich and poor.
“If I had the power to eradicate one evil from society or the world, it would be poverty. It’s unfair that the rich are getting everything and the poor are getting nothing. I would go for more parity, scale down the richest and scale up the poor and find a medium where people can at least afford basic necessities and live a dignified life,” Rohit shares.
Evils of Rape, Sexual Harassment, Abuse
The 42-year-old actress Kamya Shalabh Dang feels that no matter how progressive and modern we become with time, until we create a safe world for women and girls, the world can never prosper in the real sense.
“In our society, the rising incidents of rape, sexual harassment and abuse is the biggest evils in our society. People having wrong intentions towards women and see them in a bad light should be given strict punishment so that their soul shake up even with the slight thought of it,” Kamya shares; she was last seen on the small screen in the TV show 'Shakti - Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki'.
Taming the Evil Inside Us
Actress Aashka Goradia Goble, 35, who is known for her supernatural TV shows 'Daayan' and 'Naagin', shares that like the two sides of the same coin, we have both good and evil inside us. The need of the hour is to tame the inner evil of negativity, anger, hatred and much more.
“We need to see what we feed more, the evil or the good. You feed the good and it will reflect on the society, if each one of us were to work this way out, we will be in even a better place,” Aashka tells Sputnik.
