Actor Shreyas Talpade has apologised for committing a blatantly disrespectful act against the Hindu faith in a 2012 film after Gems of Bollywood pointed it out and commented how Bollywood would never have shown such disrespect to other faiths.
On February 12, Gems Of Bollywood posted a tweet showing a clip from 2012 film ‘Kamaal Dhamaal Malamal’ containing a problematic scene. In that clip, the actor, who plays a Christian character named Johnny Belinda, stomps over an ‘Om’ sign on the front side of a van with his feet (with footwear). This movie, based on the Malayalam film ‘Marykkundoru Kunjaadu’, was directed by Priyadarshan and written by Benny P. Nayarambalam.
As Gems of Bollywood argued, ‘Om’ is sacred to Hindus and is commonly painted in front of many vehicles for safe voyages and good luck, and no filmmaker would film such a scene with the religious symbol of any other faith.
This tweet was widely shared and discussed by other Twitter users agreeing with the argument.
The actor, however, came forth and apologized for the content and tweeted the following:
“There are too many factors to consider during shooting…including one’s mindset during a sequence, especially action scenes, the director’s requirements, time restrictions, and a variety of other factors. But this is not me defending or excusing what you see in the video; all I can say is that it was absolutely inadvertent and I am deeply sorry for it. I should have noticed it and informed the director. Nonetheless, I would never intentionally hurt anyone’s feelings or do something like this again,”.
This message was in a tweet that said “Apologies” and was followed by a folded hands emoji.
Now this is a gesture that we, Gems of Bollywood, welcome. We think it is refreshing to see a Bollywood actor not just understand the problem with such content but also apologise without denials or excuses.
Gems of Bollywood responded to the actor, by saying this:
“We sincerely appreciate @shreyastalpade1 coming forth and apologizing. We hope this is followed by everyone else in this industry. Had it been any other religion’s symbol instead of Om, imagine what would have happened. Think. Naman to all.”
Criticism & Review as per Section 52 of Indian Copyright Act, 1957
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