After the reaction of Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra calling for ‘corrections’ in the newly released song ‘Besharam Rang’ from the movie Pathaan, a leader of the ruling BJP, MLA Ram Kadam, in Maharashtra, too, has declared the upcoming Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone movie ‘Pathaan’ is “insulting towards Hindutva” and “will not be allowed”.
Hindutva groups and BJP politicians found a communal angle in Deepika Padukone’s “vulgar” bikini in ‘Besharam Rang,’ a song posted as part of the lead-up to the film’s premiere next month.
In a series of tweets today, Ram Kadam alluded to Deepika Padukone’s support for some Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students in Delhi in 2020 after they were attacked by a mob purportedly supported by the ruling BJP and other RSS supporters.
He asked that, because Maharashtra, the birthplace of the Hindi film industry, has a “government with Hindutva philosophy,” the film’s producer and director explain themselves in front of the “saints, mahatmas, Hindu organisations, and crores of individuals on social media” who have objected to the film.
Many of those objecting, including BJP leaders, have charged what they dub “love jihad”, pointing towards the Hindu actress and Muslim actor’s pairing and their “saffron” and “green” outfits in the song ‘Besharam Rang’. They’ve called for a boycott of the film, or possibly of Bollywood as a whole.
The film’s creators have not responded, despite protests in areas such as Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where Shah Rukh Khan’s effigies have been burned.
On Thursday, Shah Rukh Khan appeared to address it when he spoke about internet toxicity in Kolkata. “The collective narrative of our times is shaped by social media. Contrary to the belief that social media will affect cinema negatively, I believe cinema has an even more important role to play now,” he remarked.
