Abhay Deol Lambasts The Government, Imran Khan Says He Is Scared To Do The Same

Even as the fate of Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which features Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Fawad Khan, hangs in balance, several
Bollywood artistes have voiced their opinion in support of the filmmaker.

The opening ceremony of The Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival  that had the who’s who of the film world such as Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Ayan Mukerji Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Kalki Koechlin, Abhay Deol, Imran Khan, Huma Qureshi among others make an appearance, also saw a number of industrywallahs siding KJo.

However, Abhay Deol no-holds-barred response on the matter made us sit up and take notice. When asked about the proposed ban on Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Abhay said, “If you want to ban anything to do with Pakistan, then go the distance. Don't just ban filmmakers. Why are you doing a half-hearted job? Ban the business dealings, the import, the export because when you do half a job no one will take you seriously. I don't take the government seriously because they are only banning us from collaborating with artistes.”

He added, “They are not banning businessmen from making business. So, if you really mean what you say, then go the distance. Then I will take you seriously. Right now it is not looking like you mean it, it just looks like it gets you a lot of publicity and makes a lot of noise. But really what is the point of it? I will support it if you think banning anything to do with Pakistan is going to help our jawans, fine. But I don't see the whole distance. I see one little thing looked at and banned and another part being left. Sounds hypocritical to me.”

However, Imran Khan, who was spotted at an event after many a moon, took a diplomatic stand on the matter and said, “I have many many views but my concern is if I voice those views, I am going to have people come and try to burn my house. It’s very very very far down in the list of the things that I would like to see happen. I don’t want people to threaten me or beat me up, I want to avoid these things. So, will keep my opinion to myself.”

Says a great deal about the times we are living in.


Thumbnail Image Source: Manav Manglani