May 5, 2018
Actress Alia Bhatt, who plays a spy in the forthcoming
film "Raazi", says she learnt a new definition of patriotism which is more about
contribution to the well-being of people selflessly rather than just feeling
proud and loving your country.
"I learnt that what we believe is
patriotism is quite opposite of what true patriotism is. We say we are patriots
because we are living in the country and we love our country, but that is not
enough," Alia told media here on Friday.
"We have to participate in
activities that may not be beneficial to you but the larger population. During
the journey of narrating the character, this is what I learnt which made me
participate in things much more actively. What is the point of having so many
followers on social media if I can't use my voice?"
The actress went to a
village in Maharashtra along with superstar Aamir Khan on May 1 to actively
participate in ‘shramdaan' in the process of water conservation.
She
shared: "You know you don't need to express your opinion all the time. You can
feel for things and take action to solve a problem, instead of talking about the
problem.
"When I went with Aamir, I understood that he is imparting
knowledge to the villagers who need it, to survive and deal with the drought
crisis of Maharashtra."
"I think that is true patriotism. That is why
action speaks louder than words. What is the point of having a take on an issue,
if I am not resolving the problem?" she explained.
"Raazi", a
cross-border spy drama, is based on the book titled "Calling Sehmat". The film
is set in Kashmir.
"In the film, Kashmir is not depicted in a negative
light. Kashmir is a beautiful place and I love it. It is really unfortunate that
their tourism business, which is a big part of the revenue, is affected because
of the incidents that took place. People think that Kashmir is not a safe place
to go, but that is not true," Alia said.
Directed by Meghna Gulzar, the
film also features Vicky Kaushal and Soni Razdan. It is set to release on May
11.