Shobha De- the prolific writer, is also a good orator. She wasn’t facing an interview on a Marathi channel for the first time, but ‘The Great Bhet’ with Shobha De , presented by IBN –Lokmat on 15th night, certainly inspired many Marathi viewers who witnessed the programme. Speaking fluent Marathi to express her thoughts with usage of some English dialect in between , she was frank enough to comment on her love for the Marathi people, language and culture.

Hinting at a section of English press being rude, for not carrying the views of Marathi Politicians, who were fighting for the rights of Marathi people living in Mumbai and Maharashtra, she said that she did not support any party or politician in particular, but felt that Journalism was like placing all relevant facts before the people. Having been born as a Maharashtrian, she said that she could not tolerate injustice to them.

“Sometime back, when Raj Thackeray only spoke in Marathi and his views were not reaching the readers in English. At this stage, I was the first Journalist to interview him for ‘Mumbai Mirror’, as this assignment which was given to me by Times Group. I took it up, as it was more challenging to convey his views and stand to non-marathi people. But, that did not mean that I was pro-Raj Thackeray. I was only doing my duty, which any other committed journalist would have done,” reacted Ms. De, when she was asked about her stand while protecting rights of Marathi people.

When the host Nikhil Wagle asked her about carrying some interesting news about celebrities and exposing their bedroom acts in public, the creative writer said that no celebrity has something called private life, if they do not behave in a decent manner. “If they are doing something unethical, public has every right to know about it. Even I myself should not be an exception. Even all those Politicians in wrong acts, should be brought to public notice through journalism. There is nothing like Public life and private life. If you are a celebrity or a responsible citizen, you need to behave properly,” she added.

Shobha De, didn’t seem to be interested in joining politics, as she felt that as a writer she was doing her job to invite the attention of people to many social issues. “ I have some commitments to my family too, besides finding time for writing.” Giving her advice to many new writers, she appealed to them to do lot of practice. “Write at least 500 words daily, be it in the form of column or writing your own blog and that will help you in days to come.”