Democracy gives you right to ask a question: Anurag Kashyap on being dissenter, dealing with trolls

A democracy gives you the right to ask a question, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap said on Thursday after he was trolled for drawing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attention to a social media post threatening his daughter with rape because of his anti-establishment views.

Kashyap said there should be a law against this kind of trolling, or someone in power should condemn such incidents "in the harshest words" to send across a strong message.

The filmmaker has filed an FIR against the troll who posted the abusive post about him and his daughter.

"A democracy gives you the right to ask a question. If I am intimidated for asking a question and later subjected to multiple attacks, I don't find such an atmosphere right," Kashyap told reporters.

The director hit the headlines last week when he drew Modi's attention to a right wing troll, who had abused and threatened his daughter with rape for his views.

The director of films such as "Dev D" and "Gangs of Wasseypur", who is known to be vocal about his opinions, said he is worried about "the atmosphere of fear, which has emerged".

"I am asked 'Don't you get scared while speaking against the government?'... I shouldn't be scared to ask a question," he said during the promotion of a new film, "Game Over".

Kashyap said he is not scared about threats when they are directed at him but, as a father, he needs to reassure his child.

"I don't mind that the prime minister I didn't support won. This is a public mandate and I accept it. I have always fought with governments," he said, citing the example of the bans on his films during the Congress regime.

"I don't fight the party, I fight the government because you live in a country, you vote and you can have a contrary opinion and that can co-exist... I just don't agree with the PM but that doesn't mean I will say something and he doesn't get elected on the basis of what I say. If he comes somewhere, I will stand in respect the way others would."