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Shotgun Sinha on the glamour of power

Thus much, from Mr Soundbyte himself. Aka Shatrughan Sinha, former Bollywood baddie turned BJP politico.

Speaking at a programme organised by the Press Club of India in New Delhi, Sinha said he preferred Plato's dictum that a nation will be ruled by cowards as long as good people didn't come forward, rather than Bernard Shaw's aphorism that politics was the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Claiming to be the first star to enter politics at the height of his career, Sinha -- known as Shotgun, during his film career, for a tendency to shoot from the lip -- said that he had never had any commands, demands or expectations when he entered politics.

Further claiming to be the only star to never have hassles with the income tax authorities, or to have endured an income tax raid even when his party was in opposition, Sinha said that he in fact had lost, financially, by joining politics.

Claiming to have been greatly influenced by the late Jaiprakash Narayan -- popularly known as Lok Nayak -- Sinha said his forte was loyalty to his party, and a yen to serve in whatever capacity he was deemed suited for.

Addressing the question of the granting of industry status for movie-making, Sinha pointed out how entertainment tax, which varied between 60 per cent to 167 per cent -- was never ploughed back into the industry.

The film industry, he said, was being further crippled by video piracy and competition from television channels. All this had mandated that films become big, vast in scale and scope, and this in turn cost the producers more money.

All this, Sinha felt, necessitated that film-making be protected, and the granting of industry status was the first step in that direction.

Referring to the star system and how it was driving up cost of film-making, Sinha said that the new status accorded to the industry was sure to affect star prices, and to bring in discipline into film-making.

Admitting that there was some scepticism within the industry about the actual implications of the move, Sinha said you can't expect miracles to happen overnight, and argued that it would take a while for the effect of the changes to take effect.

Another major gain would be the checking of underworld influence, said Sinha, arguing that once finance was readily available, the grip of illicit money could be broken. Asking the fraternity to mend their ways, Sinha warned that piracy of each other's stories, music and such had to end.

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