Actor Ratna Pathak Shah, who is married to actor Naseeruddin Shah, spoke about the challenges of raising boys, and said that the younger generation is often content being by themselves. She didn’t seem to pleased with this behaviour, as she spoke about her children’s tendency to isolate themselves in their rooms all day. During an event, she also narrated the story of a Japanese man, an acquaintance of one of her friends, who didn’t leave his room for two full years. “Is this the future we’re looking at? Is this what our children are going to be?”
At a FICCI Flo event in Hyderabad, she said that the youth is losing touch with Indian culture, and that their parents should be blamed. “I heard a story about a Japanese man that frightened the life out of me. A friend of mine reported that her Japanese friend hadn’t met her brother for two years. So, my friend asked, ‘Is your brother travelling? Does he live somewhere else?’ She said, ‘No, he lives in our house, but he doesn’t come out of his room. He does everything; work, entertainment, everything on his laptop. He doesn’t get out of his room. We serve him meals in his room, he’s completely isolated in himself’.”
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Ratna said that this is a serious concern that needs to be addressed. “I know that my kids, and a lot of other kids I know, wake up in the morning, have breakfast, shut the room, and they’re gone for the day. Is this the future we’re looking at, where we can live in a virtual world? I don’t know. But I’m hoping that at least in our country, human contact will be needed, will be wanted, and will be celebrated,” she said.
Previously, in an appearance on the Unfiltered by Samdish YouTube channel, actor Arshad Warsi voiced similar concerns. “I don’t like it when they isolate themselves. This is a thing with this generation, it wasn’t the case earlier. Their life revolves around their phone. Once they enter their room, they don’t get out for 2-3 days,” he said.
