<div align="justify">Filmmaker Kabir Khan believes a film with a "message" can prod people into thinking, though he fears that it doesn't end up changing "reality".<br /><br />The director of "Bajrangi Bhaijaan, a 2015 film about an Indian man who helps a little girl reach her home in Pakistan, says it made people think about relations between India and Pakistan.<br /><br />"It (cinema) is powerful enough to at least make people think, make you ponder, if not change. Like after 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' a lot of people thought about India and Pakistan's relationship, where are we headed. Isn't this a better option than constantly being at war?" he told PTI.<br /><br />Cinema, he adds, makes people rethink old views.<br /><br />"But I don't know if it's powerful enough to change the reality. Maybe not, unfortunately," says Kabir, whose new film "Tubelight" -- set in the backdrop of the India-China 1962 war -- is to be released on June 23.<br /><br />Kabir stresses he has never shied away from taking up social and political issues in his films, stating that he is not afraid to speak his mind.<br /><br />"Films are the most powerful medium in the country and filmmakers should always put across their point of view without fear."<br /><br />On political pressure on cinema, Kabir says he had not experienced it and would not succumb to it.<br />"I don't get afraid, but I do get upset. I am not afraid to speak my mind," he says.<br /><br />"I think in today's time it is all the more important to speak up. That's the greatest thing about our country that we are allowed to speak our mind."<br /><br />Kabir says trolling on the Internet does not bother him, but the dismal state of public debate is a "major" concern.<br /><br />"You do get trolled but that doesn't scare me, though it does upset me. I get worried about where we are heading and what this public debate has been reduced to. Loud shrills, screaming and shouting on news channels -- that's not how a debate is suppose to be like."<br /><br />One might not agree with people, but there is a certain way of conducting a debate, he says.<br /><br />"You put your point and then a counter point. You can't start shouting, yelling, screaming, abusing as then there is no argument," he says.<br /><br />Kabir's films have always had a strong socio-political undertone. "Kabul Express" was set in post-Taliban Afghanistan, "New York" was about the effects of 9/11 attacks, and the Salman-starrer "Tubelight" looks at a brother in search of a missing soldier.<br /><br />The filmmaker, however, says his choice of subjects is not intentional, but his aim is to blend reality with mainstream, which interests today's audience.<br /><br />"I have not actively thought why the films had India- Pakistan, India-China as backdrop, why 'New York' had a US backdrop. I do think and put my stories against the backdrop of the real context as those are the films I like watching," he says.<br /><br />As a mainstream cinema watcher, he has "struggled lot of times with the fact that a lot of stories were set in vacuum", he says.<br /><br />"There is no social or political context. I have realised it's not just about (putting) politics as a backdrop in the film but about the way you present politics in your films. And today's youth likes a blend of reality and mainstream than larger-than-life story telling."<br /><br />"Tubelight" also stars Sohail Khan, Om Puri and Chinese actress Zhu Zhu.</div>
<div align="justify">Filmmaker Kabir Khan believes a film with a "message" can prod people into thinking, though he fears that it doesn't end up changing "reality".<br /><br />The director of "Bajrangi Bhaijaan, a 2015 film about an Indian man who helps a little girl reach her home in Pakistan, says it made people think about relations between India and Pakistan.<br /><br />"It (cinema) is powerful enough to at least make people think, make you ponder, if not change. Like after 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' a lot of people thought about India and Pakistan's relationship, where are we headed. Isn't this a better option than constantly being at war?" he told PTI.<br /><br />Cinema, he adds, makes people rethink old views.<br /><br />"But I don't know if it's powerful enough to change the reality. Maybe not, unfortunately," says Kabir, whose new film "Tubelight" -- set in the backdrop of the India-China 1962 war -- is to be released on June 23.<br /><br />Kabir stresses he has never shied away from taking up social and political issues in his films, stating that he is not afraid to speak his mind.<br /><br />"Films are the most powerful medium in the country and filmmakers should always put across their point of view without fear."<br /><br />On political pressure on cinema, Kabir says he had not experienced it and would not succumb to it.<br />"I don't get afraid, but I do get upset. I am not afraid to speak my mind," he says.<br /><br />"I think in today's time it is all the more important to speak up. That's the greatest thing about our country that we are allowed to speak our mind."<br /><br />Kabir says trolling on the Internet does not bother him, but the dismal state of public debate is a "major" concern.<br /><br />"You do get trolled but that doesn't scare me, though it does upset me. I get worried about where we are heading and what this public debate has been reduced to. Loud shrills, screaming and shouting on news channels -- that's not how a debate is suppose to be like."<br /><br />One might not agree with people, but there is a certain way of conducting a debate, he says.<br /><br />"You put your point and then a counter point. You can't start shouting, yelling, screaming, abusing as then there is no argument," he says.<br /><br />Kabir's films have always had a strong socio-political undertone. "Kabul Express" was set in post-Taliban Afghanistan, "New York" was about the effects of 9/11 attacks, and the Salman-starrer "Tubelight" looks at a brother in search of a missing soldier.<br /><br />The filmmaker, however, says his choice of subjects is not intentional, but his aim is to blend reality with mainstream, which interests today's audience.<br /><br />"I have not actively thought why the films had India- Pakistan, India-China as backdrop, why 'New York' had a US backdrop. I do think and put my stories against the backdrop of the real context as those are the films I like watching," he says.<br /><br />As a mainstream cinema watcher, he has "struggled lot of times with the fact that a lot of stories were set in vacuum", he says.<br /><br />"There is no social or political context. I have realised it's not just about (putting) politics as a backdrop in the film but about the way you present politics in your films. And today's youth likes a blend of reality and mainstream than larger-than-life story telling."<br /><br />"Tubelight" also stars Sohail Khan, Om Puri and Chinese actress Zhu Zhu.</div>