Zakir Hussain downplays 'Padmaavat' controversy, calls for

Renowned tabla maestro Zakir Hussain today downplayed the raging "Padmaavat" controversy, terming it is as "media hype" while asserting that important issues like environment deserved more coverage.
Hussain said the issue was blown out of proportion and will fizzle out once the film goes out of the theatres.
He said more important issues like environment, hygiene and health care deserved more coverage rather than the ongoing controversy surrounding the film which has been over- emphasised for "TRPs and to sell the newspapers".
"There are more important issues at hand like environment that deserve more coverage.
"If we believe in 'Saare jahan se acha, Hindustan hamara', we must keep our entire country clean because it is our home," he said at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival here.

He added that it was "unfortunate" that the focus was on "short-lived" issues rather than the more pertinent ones like pollution.

Participating in a session here, Hussain spoke at length about his early days as well as his tryst with music and the core values that have gone into shaping his perspectives on life as well as music.
He also spoke of the healing powers of music.
"Musicians cannot change the world but once you go to a concert, you forget all the worldly tensions. You are at peace. Music is the connecting dot between the aatma and the parmatma (the soul and the god)," he said.

"It doesn't matter what is happening around, no matter what chaos we are living in, but there is no place more serene and peaceful than the world of arts and culture. We should all uphold it," he added.