Ashish Shelar “Social Activist To The Core”

[vc_row][vc_column][td_block_text_with_title custom_title=”SOCIAL ACTIVIST” separator=””]The suave politician who has created a niche for himself in the world of politics sashays into our office for this rare interview and dwells at length on his interesting journey and reiterates to Publisher Ronnie Rodrigues and Editor JYOTHI VENKATESH that it has never been his mission to be a Minister but to serve the public as a social activist. 

 

How would you like to describe yourself as a person?
I would like to call myself even today as a social activist in the real sense of the term. Even today like in the past when I was drawn towards activism, I used to work for social issues, sports. In fact I would like to work for everything that is close to people’s hearts today, whether it is films or for that matter sports.

What exactly is your core mission as a staunch Mumbaikar?
My core mission as a staunch Mumbaikar is to work for the betterment of Mumbai as a city. Mumbai has a charming atmosphere as well as weather, besides charming people. Mumbai is for everybody. In that perspective, I am keen on creating better infrastructure so that each and everyone here can co-exist together peacefully in harmony without stress and communal bias.

Do you think Mumbai has changed over the years?
Mumbai has changed over the years. It has become more accommodative. Yet I feel that Mumbai has to change more for the better. In fact, I find that people have become more aggressive about various issues and I find nothing wrong with that kind of an approach and though I too adopt extreme measures, I also feel that we should inculcate tolerance as a virtue in every one.

You took to politics though no one from your family had ever embraced politics. Why?
I have always believed that politics need not be hereditary. I was drawn towards politics even when I was a teenager and consider myself extremely lucky that I have been chosen to be the President of the Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party today under the dynamic leadership of our Honorable Prime Minister Mr Modi. I was drawn towards politics only because I was a social activist.

“Ronnie Rodrigues has had the foresight to come up with a mag ahead of others in style.”

Did you have to brave family opposition when you decided to take up politics?
Though my family did not like me to dabble in politics because we come from basically a humble middle class Maharashtrian family and but naturally my parents wanted me to settle down with a good job after my studies, they are today happy with my decision to take up politics though I am an Advocate by profession.

In what way does your wife Pratima Shelar and son Omkar Shelar help you in your functioning?
My wife Pratima strikes a balance between her social work and time devoted for women empowerment in her own right as an advocate and looking after our only son Omkar and my aged parents dutifully like a daughter. My son Omkar is only 12 now and he does not engineer any ambition to be a politician but wants to take up engineering.

What do you think Mumbai needs as the President of the Mumbai Cricket Association today?
As a Mumbaikar, I think that we need more boys to go to the national level as far as playing the game is concerned. At one time most of the cricketers were from Mumbai but it is not the case now unfortunately.

How do you ensure that politics is kept out of all decisions taken as far as Cricket or Football is concerned?
There is no politics in cricket or for that matter football. Sharad Pawar did not at all blend politics when he was at the helm of affairs at BCCI. I too do not. We give all the rights to our colleagues like Dilip Vengsarkar, Praveen Amre etc and leave all the decisions to them and abide by what they suggest.

As Chairman of Mumbai District Football Association, what did you set out to do?
When I realized that in Mumbai suburbs there was no area where our kids could play football, I saw to it that they got a playground in Bandra

What do you like about our Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
I like the foresight and vision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi for our country as a whole. He is very clear that we should not be highhanded at all. He wants to weed out corruption from our society. I work on holistic development of infrastructure and not at all on the basis of caste, creed and sex.

You had produced documentaries?
I produced not one or two but four documentaries. One of them was on 26/7 Floods in Mumbai. I wrote the theme too. I also made a documentary on the dying mills in Mumbai called Dead Chimney which also got for me a lot of accolades. I also made a film on the second RSS chief Golwalkar as well as a film on Swami Vivekananda as my way of tribute to my ideology.

Is it true that you had even produced a feature film?
I had produced not just one but two films in Marathi. They were Chang Bhala and Kajali. Both were issue based films but both sank at the box office and though I managed to get a lot of critical acclaim, I did not at all get back the money which I had ploughed in both the films.

Did you analyze why your films flopped?
Yes. My film did not boast of any marketable and saleable stars but good talent from the theatre. Both were directed by my late friend Yeshwant I analyzed and came to the conclusion that I should not have passed on the bucks to my colleagues. I have decided not to try my hand at production of any more feature film, at least for the time being.

What do you think about Marathi Cinema today?
Marathi Cinema is at its best phase today. Among the recent Marathi films which I liked the best was Fandry. What I like about Marathi films is that they have the best of music, presentation, story and dialogues, besides treatment. No wonder the Marathi films are on the forefront as far as the world is concerned.

Who are your favorite actors or directors?
I cannot name any particular actor or director. I would say that I would consider any actor or director who works for the betterment of the common man in country as a whole, as my favorite actor or director.

Do you like to watch films?
I make it a point to watch every film whenever I can at home with my family. In fact I have a UFO satellite at home and buy a film and see it.

 

Have you seen the film Tubelight?
I saw Tubelight. I think I am a good critic of films & have expressed my views on what I think of Tubelight and also tweeted my frank views.

Not many know that you are an ardent music lover!
Yes. I am an ardent lover of music and love to listen to the songs for the late Mohammad Rafi and in fact organize awards too in the name of Mohammad Rafi every year in Bandra where he had stayed all his life.

What is your honest feedback on Cine Buster?
All that I can say is that with a wide range of subjects which the fortnightly magazine Cine Buster sets out to tackle, it has already created a special niche of its own in the print media and I would not be surprised if by the end of the year, Ronnie Rodrigues is also able to come up with its own unique and different Cine Buster Awards.[/td_block_text_with_title][/vc_column][/vc_row]