You don't need politics to make a change: Congress MP Priya Dutt

Over 50 works, with a lineup featuring names like Gurudas Shenoy, Dimpy Menon, Sanjay Das, Vivek Kumavat and Nitin Ghangrekar - affordable art is the buzzword at Walls With Stories, which opens at the Taj West End this weekend.

The initiative, put together by the Nargis Dutt Foundation, is one of many things former Congress MP and philanthropist Priya Dutt has on her plate at the moment. "It's about affordable, positive art," says curator Radhika Mukhija, who is just home from the gallery, at the end of what has evidently been a long day.

This is the Nargis Dutt Foundation's third fundraising event connected with art and the first in Bengaluru, says Priya. 

Hers has been a life marked by turbulence although Priya Dutt, former Congress MP and philanthropist, sums up her story with great prescience. "Nobody has a perfect life. My dad would always say, 'When you have a problem, look at someone else's' and that works for me." It is a philosophy she chooses to epitomise - her work with the Nargis Dutt Foundation stands testimony to this.

The lives of the Dutt family are the stuff of cinema and audiences will have a no-holds-barred look for themselves with Rajkumar Hirani's upcoming biopic, Sanju.

"I haven't seen a single frame," laughs Priya. "I trust Raju very much, I'm happy to see the end product! The casting choices have been great, too - Ranbir is the perfect choice to play Sanjay, I couldn't have imagined anyone else doing it.

Manisha plays my mother and she's a wonderful actor. I'm really waiting to see Paresh Rawal's performance, though!"

Priya's candour is well known - she has, in the past, spoken out in favour of legalising prostitution, in support of the LGBT community and her work with Muslim refugees in the aftermath of the riots put her on the receiving end of threats and much public harrassment. This has only served to heighten  her conviction - "I will always speak out," she says, with a laugh. "I will always stand up for causes close to me, no matter how people feel!" She stands in full support of superstar Rajnikanth's entry into politics, saying, "Actors have to love their country - it's something I always witnessed in my father, too. Everything that an actor becomes he owes to the people of that country. He or she has it in them to be grateful, which makes all the difference."

After over a decade in electoral politics, Priya stepped out of the limelight, turning her attention to her family and the foundation instead. She remains a Congress loyalist, speaking out strongly in favour of the party's young scion, Rahul Gandhi. "I work with the party of course, but I"m a mother as well. I'm enjoying my time with my kids at the moment."

She also threw herself into the Nargis Dutt Foundation, which deals with two broad aspects of social outreach - health and education. She hasn't looked back since - "I firmly believe that you don't need to be in electoral politics to make a change," she says. "Your voice needs to be heard and you need to be an influencer, to create a buzz amongst the people." 

She found, as she travelled to villages outside Mumbai, that the rural world was starkly different from its urban counterpart. This was a gap she felt compelled to bridge and marked the start of a two-year programme to provide children in rural schools with computer training. “I asked them the usual, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ and they had no answer. That’s when it dawned on me – these children have grown up with so little exposure, it’s unfair of me to ask a question like this!” E-learning systems and computers were set up there, in a two-year project that culminated recently.  

It is this journey, really, that has brought her face to face with loss and deprivation.  “You see homes torn apart by illness and poverty, there’s little room to focus on your own problems. All I want to do at those points is turn to God and say ‘Thank you.’ Gratitude is all you’re left with.”