By TCN News,
Aligarh: Muzaffar Ali, noted film director, on Tuesday lamented that hardly any effort have been made by film makers for unraveling the saga of India’s first war of Independence in 1857.
He was delivering the 5th K P Singh Memorial Lecture on the “Language of Moving Images in the 21st century” at Kennedy Auditorium, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a release by Dr Rahat Abrar, AMU PRO said.
Noted film director, Mr. Muzaffar Ali along with AMU Vice Chancellor Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah at Prof. K.P. Singh Memorial Lecture.
Ali said that the colonial powers have in a very subtle manner used the film medium for promoting their “divide and rule” policy for polarizing different sections of society in the East and “protecting their own interests.”
An AMU alumnus, Ali said this institution was uniquely placed for promoting and spreading India’s unique composite culture through arts, mass communication and culture and called upon AMU students to create “bridges of understanding’ between different groups of people of India.
Paying rich tributes to Professor K P Singh, Ali said that he was closely associated with Singh in Aligarh in the early 1960s. He said that the culture seen in Aligarh in those days was marked by the presence of literary figures and writers like Rahi Masoom Raza, Asghar Wajahat, Shahryar and K P Singh, who was always at the centre of such literary and cultural activities.
In his presidential remarks, Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah (Retd) said Professor Singh was one of the stalwarts of AMU.
He also said that the demonization of Indian Muslims in the film industry has to be stopped and that “We are law abiding citizens of this great nation.”
Gen Shah said that AMU is a secular modern University and Professor Singh was an icon of this institution.
On this occasion, Professor Ramveer Singh, former Director, Central Hindi Institute, highlighted the role and contribution of Professor K P Singh in Hindi literature. He said that Professor Singh was a progressive writer and alumnus of this University.
Dr Tariq Islam, coordinator of the Professor K P Singh Memorial Lecture proposed a vote of thanks, the release added.