Amidst the continued controversy over the film The Kerala Story which raised the issue of love jihad, conversions and indoctrination, actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who has been accused by his wife of sexual harassment, has said that if a movie is ‘hurting someone, then it is wrong.
In response to a tweet by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap apparently supporting the film, Nawazuddin said that “If a novel or a film is hurting someone then that is wrong.” Kashyap had tweeted earlier this month, “You agree with the film or not, be it propaganda, counter-propaganda, offensive or not, to ban it is just wrong.”
It is notable that the movie was banned by the West Bengal government, but the ban was stayed by the Supreme Court. But despite the Supreme Court order, cinemas in the state are not screening the movie, indicating an unofficial ban. Hall owners are saying that they have no free slot to show the movie, a surprising comment given that the movie is doing well everywhere else. There was a similar unofficial ban on it in Tamil Nadu, but the movie was released in the state later.
Although Nawazuddin agreed with the filmmaker, he opined that if a film or novel is hurting someone, then that’s wrong. “We don’t make films to hurt the audience or their sentiments,” Siddiqui said while speaking to News18.
The actor further stated that the films should foster social harmony and love among people adding that doing so is “our” responsibility to propagate the same. He also said that if a film has the power to break people and social harmony then that is extremely wrong. “Humein iss dunia ko jodna hai todna nahin (we have to unite this world not divide it),” Siddiqui asserted adding that nothing in the world deserves to be banned.
Siddiqui, who will be seen in his upcoming film ‘Jogira Sara Rara’ apparently tried to do the monkey balancing as he said that although nothing in the world deserves to be banned, he insinuated that the film The Kerala Story hurts the sentiments of the people completely ignoring the fact that the film has been doing phenomenally well on the box-office despite the bans and opposition by a section of people.
The film recently crossed the Rs 200 crore mark and remains unstoppable. The whopping numbers raked in by the film demonstrate that the audience wants to watch the film and is supporting it.
He said that films should serve the purpose of uniting the world and dividing it. In the case of the film The Kerala Story, the film addresses the menace of love jihad, indoctrination, and subsequent deployment of the converted victims to ISIS—either to carry out terrorist activities or become ISIS brides. The film does not praise or vilify any religion or intend to hurt the sentiments of anyone rather presents a story inspired by true events. The Sudipto Sen directorial serves the purpose of spreading awareness among the people, especially Hindu girls against the Islamist terror conspiracies and the subsequent consequences.
Notably, The movie The Kerala Story written and directed by Sudipto Sen revolves around Shalini Unnikrishnan, played by Adah Sharma, an innocent Hindu woman from Kerala, who is brainwashed by her Muslim friend and gets converted to Islam and marries a Muslim man. The lead actress soon realizes that she has been trapped in a huge terrorist web after she is raped, separated from her only child, and then forced to serve as a sex slave.