Renowned dancer Pratibha Prahlad was shocked to see parts of her interview-talk at the recently held ‘Maneyangaladalli Matukate’, organised by the Kannada and Culture Department, being edited out not only when uploaded on YouTube, but also in the copy given to her. The parts edited out are those where she spoke about her relationship with former Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and her experience as a single mother.
The programme, held on May 21, had senior journalist Ramakrishna Upadhya interviewing the artist. “In the second half of the interview, we spoke about her personal life, her relationship with Mr. Hegde and being a single mother. Though these things are public knowledge, this was probably the first time she spoke openly about it on a public platform. While the full interview was initially put up by the Department on YouTube on May 22, Sunday, it was pulled down within hours and a censored version of it was uploaded,” said Mr. Upadhya.
Ms. Prahlad said she had asked for a copy of the recording and the Department had even given her an edited version. “If the government wants to, let them censor my experience and what I have spoken, but as a speaker I am entitled to the full recording of my talk,” she said. Ms. Prahlad said she had recounted how she shared a deeply emotional bond with Mr. Hegde, her interactions with him, and how she and her twin children were prevented from meeting and spending time with him during his last days in London and in the city. She also spoke about her decision to raise her twins as a single mother and how society needs to accept these choices, all of which have been edited out.
“I urge Kannada and Culture Minister Sunil Kumar to direct the Department to replace the censored version of the interview on YouTube with the full text of the interview in the interest of freedom of expression and justice to a well-known artist,” said Mr. Upadhya.
N. Manjula, Secretary, Kannada and Culture Department, said she was unaware that the video of the interview was edited and would look into the matter.
