A lot has been written and said about his upcoming film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM), which is in the news for featuring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. After its release was threatened and many called the My Name is Khan filmmaker and his supporters ‘anti-national’, Karan Johar broke his silence on the row over the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-Ranbir Kapoor-Anushka Sharma starrer that releases on October 28.
In a pre-recorded video, Johar says he chose silence “because of the deep sense of hurt and deep sense of pain that a few people could actually believe that I am being anti-national”.
Following the Uri terror attack, an outcry — from political parties and within Bollywood — for a ban on Pakistani artistes spread like wildfire and the first big project to get caught in its crossfire was Johar’s latest.
“I need to say this with strength that for me, my country comes first and nothing else matters to me…,” he says, explaining that relations between India and Pakistan were vastly different when his was in production from September to December last year.
“There were efforts made by our government for peaceful relationships with the neighbouring country and I respected those endeavours and efforts then. Going forward I would like to say that of course I wouldn’t engage with the talent from the neighbouring country given the circumstance,” Johar adds.
However, he claimed that “over 300 Indian people in my crew have put their blood, sweat and tears in my film, and I don’t think it is fair for them to face any kind of turbulence on account of other fellow Indians.
“I respect the Indian Army and salute them for everything they do to protect us in our environment… I condemn any form of terrorism, especially the terrorism that would affect my people in my country and me,” he says.
The entertainment industry in India has been divided on its support of demands for a complete ban on Pakistani artistes, and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap was among the few who stood up for an embattled Johar.
In a tweet on Sunday, Kashyap sought an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his Lahore trip, drawing sharp criticism from various quarters.
“It’s unfortunate that I have to explain the intention behind my tweet because others and my industry colleagues have (had) to suffer for my opinions…. (I) merely questioned the fairness of a situation,” he wrote in a series of tweets, questioning why a filmmaker who cast a Pakistani actor was the one who “pays the price”.
Kashyap was widely criticised for the tweets , including by minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, actor and BJP member of Lok Sabha Paresh Rawal, actor Shatrughan Sinha and filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar.
