Mangaluru: Actor Prakash Raj claims that Bollywood industry has boycotted him since he started criticising PM Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The National Award-winning actor is known for solid performances in South as well as Hindi film told a web portal ThePrint that Bollywood has stopped offering any role since October last year, when he first criticised PM Modi for his “chilling” silence on the murder of his long-time friend and journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh.
“There is no problem (with the film industry) in the south, but there has been no offer from the Hindi film industry since I started speaking out,” Raj was quoted as saying by The Print. The 53-year-old actor, however, says he’s not worried because he has “enough” (money).
“Gauri’s death disturbed me a lot… She was asking questions. When she was silenced, I felt guilty. Did we leave her alone in her fight? The more I question, the more attempts to silence me, be it (by) character assassination, threat or (by) trying to stop my work…,” he was quoted as saying further.
The actor has launched a fight against the top BJP leadership and is reportedly campaigning against the party in the forthcoming Karnataka polls.
“…Three and a half years, nothing has been done. They (BJP leaders) are talking about the past… ‘What did Nehru do? What did Tipu Sultan do? What did our Sanatan Dharma say?’ I cannot recognise my great grandfather two generations back, what do I do with Tipu Sultan?” he asked.