‘The film is just plain abuse!’

DNA reader Priya Rub gets president of the Bombay Catholic Sabha Dolphy D’souza to demystify the ‘The Da Vinci Code’

What exactly are Christians objecting to in ‘The Da Vinci Code’?
Christians have a right to be outraged because basic facts have been falsified. Jesus is God for us and this film talks about Jesus being a man and being married.

Why don’t you look it as a work of fiction and let it go?
Ron Howard cannot use it in any way he wants. Though we are a democratic country, there is a limit to people can do.

Are you worried that ‘The Da Vinci Code’ may affect Christians and make them lose their faith?
Our faith is not so weak. But we are upset with the way in which Christians are being portrayed in movies. They’re shown as drunkards or prostitutes. Freedom of expression is being completely misused. And this will work the wrong way on young, impressionable children. We might be a small community but we do a lot of good work - 60 percent of educational institutions are run by us.

There have been many books earlier on a topic like this - why is the Church threatened by this particular one? Is it because the film is a high profile one?
They are attacking the icon we revere and the central bone of our belief. There has been no sharing process where we were asked for inputs - the film is just plain abuse! They have gone ahead and taken liberties. So in the same way, we are using our freedom of expression.

By saying things like ‘fast unto death’, are you showing you are not a tolerant community?
On May 9, we met the chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and asked him to take it up with the Information and Broadcast Ministry. We are a peaceful community and are not reacting the way other communities would.
Co-ordinated by Preeti Raghunath