The South India Times
(MS Shanker)
“Freedom of Speech” and allegedly growing ‘intolerance’ has once again come to the fore with the Big B as well as the media’s Big Khan, SRK.The event was the International Film Festival inauguration at Kolkata, where the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present. Added to that is the presence of none other than Big B, that’s Amitabh Bachchan whose wife and Samajwadi Party’s RS member, Jaya’s remarks in Parliament had created a flutter not so long ago.
And, the function turned out to be what many expected it to be, with Sharukh Khan’s upcoming film “Patham’ coming under fire from right-wing activists over ‘misrepresenting’ or ‘belittling’ or ‘undermining’ the ‘saffron color.’
Well those who criticize the rightist groups’ right to raise these red flags are within their fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution and its Articles being quoted by them. The problem relates to the selective nature of their outrage. Why did they go mute during the attack on their colleague Kangana Ranaut when the erstwhile Aghadi government demolished her house, or the low, reprehensible criticism against the producer-director of the film “Kashmir Files”, Vivek Agnihotri? Why this cherry-picking?
Whatever films, including anti-Hindu narratives, indeed pedaled scripts or controversial national security interests, in which questioning or painting some armed forces officers, seems to have gone unnoticed. That doesn’t necessarily mean those who opposed or disagreed with showed ‘utmost restraint.’ It was due to not having any platform to express their displeasure. Social media has now dismantled all barriers. Ordinary people on social media are constantly exposing the agenda of many a Bollywood icon. That is what makes Bollywood jittery these days.
