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The usually mellow and always melodious Asha Bhosle strikes a jarring note with this tweet. “Didn’t know so many abusive kutte were following me. (Smiley) Deleted all. Doodh ka doodh pani ka pani. Guess my fellow artistes facing same problem.”
The tweet an hour ago, was followed with this, minutes ago: “I said abusive kutte. Did I say Pakistani ? So Why are Pakistanis upset ? Anyone can be abusive.”
While we wait for clarity on the tweets, Bollywood actor Salman Khan, producer Karan Johar and filmmaker stepped in to support Pakistani artists.
Khan spoke about art over war saying maintaining peaceful relations between the two countries was important. In a recently held press conference, Salman said that the action taken towards terrorists is justified, however, Pakistani artists are not terrorists. “They (Pakistani actors) are artists, not terrorists. It’s the government who gives them permits and visas,” said Salman.
Benegal said today, “We are not against the people of Pakistan, nor are the Pakistani people against the people of India. It is about the governments. Artists came cause they were called for some project, what’s their fault? Pakistan government has nothing to do with the individuals.”
Filmmaker Karan Johar, the first person to speak out against the ban on Pak artists said while his heart bled for the lives lost in the Uri terror attack and he understood the anger in the country, boycotting artistes from Pakistan is no solution to terrorism.
Johar’s comment comes after MNS threatened Pakistani artistes like Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan to leave India, failing which the shooting of their films would be stalled.
