Fatima Sana opens up on her Indira Gandhi role in ‘Sam Bahadur’
Fatima Sana Shaikh embraces the challenge of portraying Indira Gandhi in Meghna Gulzar's Sam Bahadur, showcasing a unique and vulnerable perspective.
Outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday remembered his "mentor", former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as a "towering personality" in his farewell speech to parliamentarians.
"My career as a parliamentarian was no doubt mentored by Mrs Indira Gandhi. Her steely determination, clarity of thought and decisive actions made her a towering personality. She never hesitated to call a spade a spade.," Mukherjee said.
The President went on to relate an interesting incident that happened in London after the Congress' defeat post Emergency.
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"I remember after the defeat of Congress in the post-Emergency election, we had gone to London in November 1978. A large number of mediapersons in a fairly aggressive mood were waiting to ask Mrs Gandhi questions.
"The first question flung at her was: 'What have been your gains from the Emergency?' Looking at the journalist squarely in the eye, in a level voice, Indira Gandhi replied: ‘In those 21 months, we comprehensively managed to alienate all sections of Indian people."
The answer resulted in a big silence, followed by loud laughter, Mukherjee said.
"Not one question was asked after that and the media persons just melted away. And I also learnt an early lesson of acknowledging my mistakes and rectifying them. Self-correction in such situations is always a better option than self-justification," he said.
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