Renowned Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar on Sunday urged his fans to contribute to the construction of the Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh's (UP’s) Ayodhya district.
In a tweet, the Welcome star said that the construction of the temple was a matter of great pleasure and now it was “our turn to contribute.”
"I have started, hope you will join, too," he wrote, along with a video where the 53-year-old actor can be seen narrating a story from the Ramayana to persuade his fans to contribute according to their capacity.
This was after India kicked off a nationwide drive to rack up donations for the temple’s construction. The campaign is set to go on till February 27, reported The Economic Times.
In response to this, many on Twitter called him a 'Hindu Sher', lauding his effort for the cause. However, the majority reacted quite differently. "This is just another PR exercise for the upcoming movie Ram-Setu. It’s an image makeover, since his last film was hit with controversies and rightly so, Laxmmi was just a propaganda film," a user tweeted.
Several others dug up old video clips of Kumar to mock him. "He was also the same guy who said don't waste money going to Mandir," a user wrote.
This is just another “PR exercise” for the upcoming movie “Ram-Setu”
— Yash Khandelwal (@Yash_1226) January 18, 2021
1. Image Makeover
2. PR
Last movie was badly hit with controversy & rightly so
Laxmmi was just a Propaganda Movie : Couldn’t find any other reason for making it
He was also the same guy who said dont waste money going to Mandir, donate to dargah. He is doing PR for his next movie and ppl just fall for it
— Prabath🇮🇳 (@tweeetaar) January 18, 2021
Why so? After giving statement about Maa Vaishno Devi.. u shouldn't. Just want to be in good books...ur new movie is coming na?? And And We shouldn't announce when we r donating. This is called HYPOCRISY! We audience will also display ur same Body language when u release ur Movie pic.twitter.com/tC8DXRngtu
— S@ksh! S!ngh 🦋 (@_its_Sakshi) January 18, 2021
Akshay Kumar Priorities:
— Siddharth Setia (@ethicalsid) January 17, 2021
Donating money for:
✅PM Cares Fund
✅Ram Mandir
Donating money for:
❌hospital construction
❌recusing migrants
❌PPE kits
❌ration to poor
Govt. Hv so much money to build statues and new parliament bt hv no money for the temple look I hv no issue abt ram mandir bt asking money from us despite govt. Having so much money this is called loot......!👍🏻
— Akram Khan (@AkramKh77401350) January 18, 2021
The actor, who was last seen in Laxmmi, will now be seen in director Abhishek Sharma's Ram Setu, which will depict the story of the Ram Setu bridge. Kumar will also be seen in Sooryavanshi, Bell Bottom, Bachchan Pandey and Atrangi Re.
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