Mumbai: Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap on Sunday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologize for his trip to Pakistan in December last year.
Kashyap vented his frustration following the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India’s decision to not screen movies with Pakistani actors, a move that has hit hard Karan Johar’s “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” which features Pakistani Fawad Khan.
“We solve all our problems by blaming it on movies and banning it. ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, with you on this Karan Johar,” Kashyap tweeted.
“Narendra Modi Sir, you haven’t yet said sorry for your trip to meet the Pakistani PM. It was December 25. Same time KJo was shooting ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’? Why?” Anurag asked.
“Narendra Modi, why is it that we have to face it while you can be silent? Narendra Modi and you actually diverted your trip on our tax money, while the film shot then was on money on which someone here pays interest.
“I am just trying to understand the situation because I am actually dumb and I don’t get it. Sorry if you feel offended. By the way, Bharat Mata ki Jai Sir Narendra Modi,” added Kashyap.
On his way home from Kabul, Modi halted in Lahore in December last year for a surprise meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
Kashyap has directed films like “Black Friday”, “Dev.D”, “Gulaal”, “That Girl in Yellow Boots”, “Gangs of Wasseypur” and “Bombay Velvet”.
Earlier this year, Kashyap also drew Modi’s attention to the controversy surrounding the censorship of his co-production film “Udta Punjab”, which was later released on June 17.
The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India on Friday said that movies featuring Pakistani actors would not be screened in single screen theatres in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat.
The decision came amid heightened India-Pakistan tensions in the wake of a terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Army’s surgical strikes on Pakistani territory.
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s “Raees” is also under the radar for featuring Pakistan actress Mahira Khan.