By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Jun 27 (IANS): Bengali actor and theatre personality Kaushik Sen, who has played a pivotal role in the cop drama "Lalbazar", says that under testing times when society is becoming more polarised than ever, the role of an artist has to be neutral, away from the political power structure.

"All artistes must have the guts to say ‘no' to all kinds of power structure. Specifically, in West Bengal, every art form is judged politically. On the one hand, it is great that West Bengal is politically aware and politically conscious as a state. Our percentage of voters is commendable. At the same time, this political consciousness, for the last 10 years, is going in a different direction. It is scary to see how, whatever we artistes are doing, are being interpreted as a pro or anti-establishment. It is interpreted on the basis of a political colour. That is when it is scary to find and retain an individual voice," Kaushik told IANS.

Apart from appearing in films and television shows, Kaushik is a prominent voice in the Bengali theatre community, and the director of the Swapnasandhani theatre group.

"The power structure judges the voice of artistes and art based on their politics, refusing the fact that everything cannot be black and white, and there is a grey shade that exists. This notion has become powerful because some people from our fraternity, without having sound knowledge in politics, have got involved in it. These artistes forget to say ‘no' to the power structure," said Kaushik.

"It is high time for artistes to realise that we have the right not to choose any political party. Right now in West Bengal, there are two political parties fighting each other, and in my opinion, both are worthless," he signed off.

Directed by Sayantan Ghosal, "Lalbazaar" also features Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Hrishitaa Bhatt and Subrat Dutta. The show is streaming on Zee5.