New Delhi, Oct 7: Leading sitar exponent Imrat Khan of the Etawah gharana, who is one of the few surviving players of surbahar, a variation of veena, says that India should put clamps on "sleazy songs and movies" as Bollywood and mass entertainment was "killing the culture of Hindustan."
"The whole world looks up to India for art and culture, but we are following Bollywood and Afro-American culture. Russians are censoring their culture and the Chinese culture too has censorship...," Khan told IANS in a chat.
In the face of stiff competition from mass entertainment, he wants a separate slice of the government largesse for the Indian classical music for the survival of lesser-known traditional genres.
"Bollywood and mass entertainment are killing the culture of Hindustan. You can't bring anything from foreign countries to India these days - there are curbs on everything, including medicines. But there are no clamps on sleazy songs and movies," said Imrat Khan, who lives in St Louis in the US.
