Art Work and Intolerance "A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament." ~ Oscar Wilde That's what we're afraid of - unique temperament. Artists are unique in their ability to creatively bring forth the pressing issues in the society; they challenge norms through candid art; they don't shy away from asking questions that our mainstream society would happily love to ignore. And it's the unique temperament that keeps them going in-spite of fierce opposition, censorship in the name of religion, vandalism and even living in exile. o 1. Taslima Nasreen an artist of prolific talent, rose to fame with her essays and novels with feminist views and severe criticism of Islam. She'd to flee Bangladesh in 1994 when Islamic extremists threatened to kill her and has been living in exile since. The author of the controversial book "Lajja"has been on the radar of Bangladeshi jehadi groups but she's untouched by fear. In an interview with The Daily Mail she said "As long as I live I will not be silenced' . Did this lady with fearless thoughts and candid expressions really deserve this? o 2. M.F.Hussain dubbed as the South Asia's Picasso had to flee India after he depicted Hindu Goddesses in nude. His art was called blasphemous by the religious zealots of the country, who not only attacked Hussain's exhibitions but also gave death threats. This many believe is an irony - since the country is home to many temples that feature sensuously crafted deities. Well, coming all this from the people of a country that gave world the Kama Sutra, we just have to say irony died a cruel death. Visit some of the greatest fine art and oil painting creations by ShowTainers.  3. Gulzar Gulzar's Aandhi what many believe was based on the life of the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, is still considered as a political masterpiece.
The female protagonist, Aarti played by Suchitra Sen, dressed , talked and walked like Mrs Gandhi. The movie faced the ire of the sycophants of the Congress party because Gulzar's Aarti smoked and drank. And Mrs Gandhi neither smoked nor drank!
 4. Jafar Panahi A great talent like Jafar Panahi was sentenced to six years of imprisonment and was banned from filmmaking, writing scripts, foreign travel and speaking to the media, can you believe this? Panahi was convicted by the Iranian government for inciting protest against President Ahmadinejad in his unfinished documentary named Offside. The movie focused on the Iranian girls who are forbidden by law to enter a football stadium to watch a match. The story was inspired by Panahi's daughter on how she travelled and attended a match at the stadium. What was his fault? Was it portraying the reality or being truthful?  5. Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie's novel named "The Satanic Verses"which won the Whitebread for the novel of the year in 1988 offended the Islamic community because of the book's negative portrayal of Islam. He questioned the authority of Mohammed as he referred him as "Mahound", a medieval Christian designation. The most controversial aspect of the book was where Rushdie writes about Satans inspiring the prophet to allow the people of Mecca to worship deities to entice them to Islam. The rage of the Muslim community was so intense that simply didn't stop at banning and burning the book, but they burned the bookstore and gave death threats to Rushdie. Recently it was reported that around 40 state run media outlets in Iran offered a new $600,000 bounty for the the assassination of Rushdie. But, what needs to be seen is will this stop the writer from expressing his views?