After Shaan, Naseeruddin Shah calls out Bollywood Khans' silence on Islamophobia

After Shaan Shahid, veteran Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah has spoken about Bollywood and particularly its Khans’ – Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir’s – silence over the international furor sparked by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s triggering comments about the Prophet Muhammad PBUH.

In an interview with NDTV, Shah suggested that the biggest stars in the country may just have “too much to lose by speaking up.” He also commented on the rise of what he described as “pseudo-patriotic cinema”, with films like The Kashmir Files on the rise.
Shah said, “I cannot speak for them [the Khans]. I am not in the position they are in. I feel they think they would be risking too much. But then, I don’t know how they console their own conscience. I feel they are in a position where they have too much to lose.”

Citing the “witch-hunt” of Shah Rukk’s son Aryan as an example, Shah continued, “What happened to Shah Rukh Khan and the dignity with which he faced it was admirable. It was nothing but a witch-hunt. He has kept his mouth shut. All he did was support Trinamool and applaud Mamata Banerjee. Sonu Sood gets raided. Anyone who makes any statement gets a response. Maybe I am next. I don’t know (laughs). Though, they won’t find anything.”

Aryan Khan was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in a drug bust aboard a Goa-bound cruise ship last year. He was subsequently sent to jail for several weeks before being granted bail. Thankfully, though, Aryan and five others were given a clean chit by the NCB in its chargesheet recently due to “lack of sufficient evidence.”

Shah also spoke about actors and filmmakers who are participating in projects perceived to be nationalistic. Asked about Akshay Kumar’s latestt output and Vivek Agnihotri’s blockbuster film The Kashmir Files, Shah lamented, “They want to be on the winning side.” He called The Kashmir Files “an almost fictionalised version of the suffering of Kashmiri Hindus” and said that the “government is promoting it.”

Shah worked with Agnihotri on the equally contentious but far less successful The Tashkent Files. He predicted a rise in the number of “pseudo-patriotic films” in the future.

Sharma was suspended by the BJP after several Middle East nations condemned the sacrilegious remarks made by her. Dubbing her a “fringe element”, the BJP distanced itself from her statments and asserted that her words do not reflect their party’s views.