Engage deeply with social issues, says activist-actor Nandita Das

"All of us are tired of corruption and we must speak out. The activism should not become a superficial engagement but go beyond. Each of us must look within ourselves and do what needs to be done, like being honest, in our daily lives to uplift society," said Das who was recently in the capital.

With an academic background in social work and human rights, the actor who prefers to be a part of stories she believes in says, "I had interacted recently with many youngsters who were very vocal in their support for Anna Hazare and his fight against corruption but they did not seem to know how that one man had been quietly doing quality work for so many years now."

Das also welcomed the bail of doctor and human rights activist Binayak Sen sentenced to life term by a Chhattisgarh trial court for sedition and helping Naxals to set up a network to fight the state.

"Thank God for it (bail). It should have happened much earlier," said the dusky beauty adding, "Even though I have not personally met Binayak Sen I keep hearing a lot about human rights activists who are caught on different pretexts. This reaffirms our faith in the Supreme Court and the judiciary."

The 41-year old actor who has acted in ten different languages in over 30 films, some of them critically acclaimed like "Fire," "Earth," and "Before the Rains" plays the part of a single mother in "I AM", which is due for release on April 29.

In the flick directed by Onir, Das explores the subject of Afiya, a single woman who fights social disappoval and wants to have a child through artificial insemination.

"The film is about personal choices and how we as a society are intolerant of the other. Whether it is religion, sex, identity etc. Can we as a society be more tolerant? I explored the concept earlier too in 'Fire' and in my directorial venture 'Firaaq'," says the actor.

Along with a role in Deepa Mehta's 'Fire' in 1996, Das gave a well-acclaimed performance in 'Earth'. The former flick dealt with the bold subject of two married women, falling in love with each other and the latter brought to celluloid the sensitive issue of religious intolerance.

With her directorial 'Firaaq', the actor explored the tumult in Gujarat, just after the 2002 riots. Das says everybody needs to speak out on the issues that they feel about strongly.

"If  you get a platform where you feel you can do something you need to speak out. I think I am fortunate to have the platform of cinema. It was not by design but films just happened to me," says the actor who was recently honoured with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by France.

Returning to screen after a gap of three years, Das mother to an eight-month-old baby says, she would go slow on films for the present.

"For now I am not doing any films. I am impressed with the way director Onir funded 'I AM' through Facebook. He raised more than Rs one crore by writing about the stories of his film on the social networking site."

Das who talked about the difficulties of funding her directorial debut "Firaaq" says, "I could relate to Onir and his difficulties because I too struggled as a director. It is amazing not only financing, he even managed to find actors through the site. It democratises the whole process of producing a film."