he first came to kolkata when he was in school and believes that the city has preserved itself very well he is also one of those rare creative minds who is oddly thankful to those who try to suppress the voices of creative people that is rakeysh omprakash mehra for you the rang de basanti director was in kolkata to be a part of a panel discussion and ct caught up with him for a freewheeling chatthis not your first visit to kolkata how do you view this cityi remember coming to kolkata when i was in school it was for my swimming nationals and then i came again for intercollege nationals it was the early 80s i remember visiting fort william and park street after that whenever i have visited kolkata i have found that the city has preserved itself very well when i compare it to other cities i see that it has been a guardian of its own culture and beliefs at the same time it has integrated very well with the rest of the world the city has embraced the larger world without changing its identity this is something i really admire i only hope that it plays a larger role in the building of this country there is so much intellect here it should be put to greater use for the countrywhat do you think of kolkatas youth and its politicskolkatas youth and politics have been on fire since preindependence days but now i think the voices of political parties speak louder than the voices of the youth if i go back to the era of kazi nazrul islam it was all about the voices of the common people now it feels more like that their voices are suppressed and are politically motivated so youths should stand up against this because they are the stronger ones in society its not just in kolkata or india it has been the story of the entire worlddo you think the present political situation is choking the creative atmosphere of the countryi dont think so its a bit of an overstatement nobody can choke anybodys voice if you try to do so it only goes stronger in that case you will have to thank the choker for making the voice stronger if the voice is there it needs to be heardin 2006 rang de basanti ignited a certain patriotism among the youth thirteen years later how do you view patriotism nowi have always believed that there is a difference between being patriotic and being rhetoric true patriotism is about the freedom of your spirit its not about getting freedom from the goras or a certain political party or ideology its all about change and the only person you need to change is the person you look at in the mirror the patriotism shown in rang de basanti and the feeling in todays society are different and they should be so much time has passed and for good or worse