Bollywood celebrities condemn attack on Sanjay Leela Bhansali

The attack on Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali by the
Rajput Karni Sena workers have been severely condemned by film personalities across the country. The director was slapped and assaulted by members of Karni Sena who staged an angry protest at Jaigarh fort where he was shooting for his next, Padmavati. The protesters alleged that the film has love scenes between Queen Padmini and ruler Alauddin Khilji, played by actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.

A video taken during the incident has gone viral, protesters are seen running berserk, damaging cameras and other shooting equipment while raising slogans and mouthing foul language and abuses in Hindi. They vandalised the sets erected for shooting.

Bollywood celebrities, including filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Farhan Akthar, Karan Johar, Ram Gopal Varma and Madhur Bhandarkar along with actors Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor have expressed their anger after the incident.

Hrithik Roshan’s tweet read,
“Mr Bhansali , Sir. I stand with you. This is so infuriating!!!!”

Karan Johar tweeted,
“Am appalled at what has happened with Sanjay Bhansali….this is the time for all us as an industry to stand by our people and fraternity!!”

“Having been through many instances of turmoil during a film shoot or release…I understand Sanjay’s emotion at this point…I stand by him,” he added.

Farhan Akthar tweeted,
“My fellow film folk, if we do not unite now against these recurring incidents of bullying, it’s going to get much worse.“