Sudhir Kakar is more than conscious of his critics, who decry both the materialism of psychoanalysis and its penchant for looking for clay feet in all gods, not to mention its anti-religious stance. But he also points out that not a few Indian gurus are very engaged with Freud. As he told FE: ?The attraction of our gurus to Freud is actually the attraction of opposites. Or, to put it differently, it is the attraction of a provocation. The deepest layers of the self, according to psychoanalysis are not Satchitananda but the darker forces of sexuality and aggression. Whereas the Indian gurus operate with a discourse of idealisation, Freud operates with a discourse of suspicion.?

Speaking of darker forces, while agreeing with other analysts ? sociological, political and psychoanalytical ? about partition being the key traumatic rupture in the Indian imaginary, he makes two interesting points. First, this trauma touches the North Indians ? especially Punjabis and Bengalis ? to a greater degree than the South Indians, those who did not have a first hand-experience of its horrific violence. Second, he draws attention to how the ground is shifting from under this seminal discourse. As those who lived the hostilities of six decades ago begin to die out, succeeding generations rely on the childhood tales told by their elders.

He explains this shift?s significance for contemporary polity: ?In the absence of first hand memories, the fostering of Indo-Pakistan peace needs a much greater emotional and imaginative engagement with partition, through literature, cinema and so on, so that second hand memories absorbed from parents and grandparents can be corrected. This change is not possible by the mere provision of information in textbooks of history.?

But films, like other narrative forms, about the partition remain in woefully short supply.

Perhaps Kakar himself would have made a film on the subject, had his application to the National Film School in Lodz (Poland) not gone through a relative in the Ministry of Education, who squealed on Kakar, telling his parents that their son had gone crazy! But as someone who used to watch movies all day long at this family?s cinema hall in Lahore (before the partition), he has followed the medium?s advancement with close attention.

Given that today?s conversation is very much about the Slumdog Millionaire, we asked for Kakar?s take on why Indians continue to lust for international awards but still tear up over whether or not to laud slum-centered films? His response: ?We are still not free from the feelings of inferiority produced by a colonial consciousness that requires approbation from the West for our achievments.

The manifestations of this feeling of inferiority include both exaggerated boastfulness and the fawning over the gora. If you don?t trust your own eyes but also constantly look at yourself through Western eyes, you will get worked up about portrayal of slums.?

Ramin Jahanbegloo, born in Tehran, and holds a PhD in philosophy from the Sorbonne, has a deep Indian connection. He loves his family name Rama over Ramin, the pre-Islamic Persian name that emanates from the 11th-century love epic penned by Persian poet Asad Gorgani. He believes that Indians have got unparallel self-confidence from their independence struggle and hopes it stays like that! Ramin got candid with Sarika Malhotra about his mother country. Excerpts:

You have travelled extensively and lived in Sorbonne, Toronto, Delhi and Tehran. Which place do you most identify with?

I grew up intellectually in France, studied philosophy, started writing in French. Passionately ? my heart goes out to my mother country Iran. And I have a special bond with India, because it is through India that I started looking deeply at the nature of human beings, the essence of spirituality, and the concept of diversity. For the last ten years, and especially after my 2005-2007 stay in India, it has been my first country.

Iran is under scrutiny owing to human rights violations. Your views…

Media has a tendency to look at Iran in black and white. But this is a country full of paradoxes. It is a very young country, with 70% of its population under the age of 30, and an energetic civil society. When one is judging Iran, one has to separate its state from its civil society. Iran has a very long history. So it is difficult to talk about Iran only on the level of politics. The misconceptions about Iranian people, their culture and history, exist because people do not care about how Iranian people think, about their dreams and aspirations. Amidst all the hindrances they face, the Iranian people have created many alternate spaces. Think about our bloggers, intellectual workers, women?s organisations and university students.

But aren?t these very limited and guarded?

They?re limited, but less limited than most would believe. The cultural creation and contribution of the past 30 years is immense. New poets, writers, film makers, intellectuals have all been gaining visibility.

Is Iran at crossroads?

It?s been here for 30 years. After all, this is a country with a dual constitution. It is a republic and a theocracy at the same time. The two contradict each other. And between them, between democracy and theocracy, civil society creates its space, in the middle. So, Iran is like a broken mirror ? in which we can see different images at any given point in time, with all of them reflecting different facets of a common, shared identity.

What does the future look like for Iran?

We cannot judge the future of Iran in isolation from the whole Middle East or the Gaza problem or the new presidency in America or the whole Arab world or Persian Gulf politics or the politics of oil. All these aspects have a determining role in the future of Iran. Plus, there are the internal challenges of Iranian society. But everything does hinge on three inter-related factors. One, how does Obama walk the tightrope between the Iranian problem and the the Israeli lobby. Two, the role of Israel and its policies in the near future. Three, the outcome of the Iranian presidential elections, to be held in late May and early June.

Do we foresee a leadership change in the presidential elections?

Their might be a change in the leadership at the presidential level. But Iran has several levels of economic and political decision making. The president might change but the supreme leader will remain the same, the assembly of experts will remain the same. Change will appear only at the level of parliament, but others will remain constant ? change in continuity.

Do you see a prejudice in the way the West views the Islamic world?

The West underestimates the diversity of the Islamic world. Most people who talk about the Islamic world in North America think that Islam is synonymous with the Middle East. They forget that the two countries with the highest Muslim population are Indonesia and India. They also disregard its non-violent precedents.

Is there a clash of civilisations herein?

I do not believe in the clash of religions, cultures or civilisations. Pluralism exists everywhere. The West and the East do not really clash. History is a common space with common values, and human beings share these common values. A very important aspect of common dialogue, intercultural dialogue, cultures getting together and close is how they can share these common or universal values, based on mutual understanding and human solidarity. A tangible example comes from the recent Mumbai terror attacks. You will find that terrorism and violence are condemned by all cultures and religions. The clash of civilisations exists only when politics misunderstands culture and history, pretending to rise over them, but only to practice its own pragmatism.

Is Ahmedijenad the next Saddam?

No, because the Iranian regime is very different from the Iraqi regime. Saddam became Saddam because of the US and because he was pumped up by Europe. Now, the legacy of the Bush administration is behind us. With Obama things will change. They will be less imperialistic and militaristic. After what we have seen in Afghanistan and Iraq, soldiers will refuse to fight as they will know that violence is not the answer. And I am hopeful that we will soon find a peaceful solution to the Iranian problem.