The Hindu Business Line : A bubbly crusader

She is full of grit and gumption, and committed to the cause that she takes up. Meeting the beautiful and articulate Nafisa Ali, Member of Parliament, and Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India, during the recently-concluded International Children's Film Fest 2005 in Hyderabad, one is struck by her bubbly persona. She skips and dances with kids at the IMAX theatre every day, and gets down to serious work — conferences, meeting dignitaries and poring through the paperwork, etc. with equal enthusiasm.

"Children's films do make a lot of business sense. Judging by the viewership at this fest, I'm pretty confident that marketing the films would not be a big deal. It is the youngsters that got to make the difference in this communal-ridden society and healthy films would help create clean minds," she says.

Nafisa finds politics both a boon and a bane. "I came into politics because I wanted to raise a voice against degrading communalism. Having fought communal divisiveness in Gujarat, I've seen the pain and will not shut my eyes. I will speak for the minorities of Gujarat, who are yet to get justice. I am 110 per cent against all fascist crusaders who misuse religion and glad to support the cause of secularism in right earnest."

She is upset with the media, which she says has become less focused on real issues such as health awareness, literacy, crime, etc and feels that for most part it is busy playing up to the so-called elite. There should be a balance of both, she feels.

Her Rajokri (near Haryana border) Home for people affected by HIV/AIDS is not just an awareness camp; it is a holistic rehabilitation centre where patients are also counselled to make them positive towards life. "They are now able to pose for pictures with any VIP without inhibition and self-deprecation," she says.

A national swimming champion in the late-1960s, Nafisa was crowned Miss India (and second runner-up in the Miss World contest) in the mid-1970s, and was also a film actress, model, social worker and ace motorist. "I did all that for fun. I am an incurable romantic. During the making of Junoon I met my husband who was then in the army and threw up everything else just to make a home. For 15 years I was not seen or heard — busy bringing up my children. I took a vow to give my hair to the deity at Tirupati if my `wish' came true and it did, just one month later! One day I sat talking to the moon about the untimely death of Rohit Khosla for whom I had modelled. And I get a call asking me to model for his last collection with my shaved head. Can you beat it," she asks, before signing off.

Picture by the author

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