Naseeruddin Shah, earlier this month, had occupied several headlines for his viral video speaking about the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
Now, the veteran actor has shared his views on why a few Bollywood household names do not talk about such issues openly.
Naseeruddin Shah, in the viral video, had expressed his concern towards the Indians who were ‘celebrating’ the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan.
He said, “Even as the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan is a cause for concern for the whole world, there are celebrations among some sections of Indian Muslims. This celebration of the barbarians is no less dangerous. Every Indian Muslim should ask themselves if they want reform and modernity in Islam or the barbarian values of the past few centuries.“
“Indian Islam has always been different from the rest of the world. May God not bring a time when it changes so much that we don’t even recognise it”, He continued.
While this garnered a lot of mixed reactions from netizens, in a recent interview Shah has now spoken about the three Khans of Bollywood and why they don’t talk about socio-political issues that take place around.
Naseeruddin says Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have a lot more to lose because the stakes are higher in their case, as compared to him.
He states, “Obviously they’re worried because of the extent of harassment they will be subjected to. I cannot speak for them but I can imagine they have so much to lose. They would be subjected to all kinds, all manner of harassment, not just financial. Their entire establishments will get harassed.”
“How much will they lose? They will lose an endorsement or two. It’s not that… it’s the harassment they will be subjected to. They find it difficult to take. And the fact that Aamir (Khan) and Shah Rukh (Khan) withdrew completely into a shell after making one harmless statement respectively illustrates this. I suppose I can speak because I don’t have much to lose,” he added.
Shah also responded to his earlier Taliban statement clarifying what he had said wasn’t subjected to the entire Muslim community. “Maybe I made a mistake by not speaking clearly enough and clarifying that I didn’t mean the entire Muslim community, which is how it is being interpreted by interested parties… The Muslims have taken offence to it. The Hindus are celebrating it. Neither of this was my intention,” he said.