Not happy: I have the right to question my PM, says Anurag Kashyap

Indian film-maker refuses to hide behind fake nationalistic statements

MUMBAI: Indian film-maker Anurag Kashyap, who was trolled on social media for asking Narendra Modi to apologise for a trip to Pakistan in December last year, says he has every right to question his Prime Minister.

The Bombay Velvet director vented his frustrations out on Sunday, following the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India’s decision not to screen movies with Pakistani actors – a move that will hit Karan Johar’s upcoming release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil as it features Fawad Khan. Kashyap’s claim that Modi should say sorry for visiting Pakistan at the same time as the shooting for the film was going on last year did not go down well with people on Twitter.

“Just to make it clear, I complain because I expect my government to protect us. I question the PM because I have every right to,” tweeted Kashyap, in response to the people who were objecting on his questions to Modi. “I am not going to address a party that has become redundant and irrelevant and is trying to find relevance by using the film industry. We have been vulnerable for long and paid the price by being used by everyone seeking any kind of standing. We solve all our problems by blaming it on movies. I’m with you on this, Karan Johar!”



The film-maker blatantly asked Modi why he had kept mum while the film industry bared the brunt of political intransigence.

“Why do we have to face everything, while you stay silent? You actually diverted your trip to Lahore on our tax money, while the film was being shot. I am just trying to understand the situation because I don’t get it,” he said.

Kashyap contended that the real trade between India and Pakistan had not faced any kind of opposition but Indians must pay the price for it. “Anyone who questions my love for the country by shouting must prove their love by representing it either on the border or in an honourable way. Not by shouting on social media,” he claimed. “And yes, Sir Narendra Modi, we need protection. I refuse to live in the fear created by blind fanatics that you cannot have a conversation with your PM or question him or expect from him. I would rather ask my questions directly from the PM than try to impress him by fake nationalism.”

The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India on Friday said that movies featuring Pakistani actors would not be screened in single screen theatres in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat.

The decision came amid heightened political tensions at the border, following an attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Army’s surgical strikes on Pakistani territory.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2016.

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