Bhandarkar condemns Kashyap's rant at PM Modi

Condemning Madhur Bhandarkar's recent tweets questioning Narendra Modi about his Pakistan visit, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar said it has now become a fashion to blame the Prime Minister for each and every issue.

"Anurag's statement is extremely wrong, he should not make such comments, first of all no government or BJP supporter has said they want the picture banned, it's the exhibitors and theater owners, who are saying they won't show the movie. So, Anurag should go question them, there is no point of dragging Modi ji unnecessarily," said Bhandarkar.

"Moreover, it has kind of become a fashion to drag the Prime Minister into each and every issue and then make a statement against him," he added.

The 48-year-old director maintained that nobody in the industry wants the movie to be banned or holds anything personal against the Pakistani artistes but the time is really not in favor of any sort of cultural exchange.

"I think we all want the movie should be released, ADHM is a big project, it has so much talent, Karan is an established film-maker of the industry. So, we too want the film to reach the people," he added.

Bhandarkar further said sarcastically saying 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' is something very disgraceful.

The director also said that he is in favour of good ties between the two hostile Asian neighbours but added that this is not the time to keep friendly rapport and indulge into any sort of cultural exchange.

"I am myself a big fan of Rahat [Fateh Ali Khan] (bhai) and Ghulam Ali, we want relations to stay friendly. In fact, I also went to Pakistan last year and received an award but at the moment we are witnessing so much terror on the border," he said.

Supporting the ban on artists, the 'Fashion' director said, "I think the ban on Pakistani artistes is rightly imposed as people's sentiments are greatly affected and they are disappointed by whatever tension is prevalent. There should be a temporary ban on them till the time the situation does not change."

He also talked about Pakistan to be declared as a terrorist state.

"See a lot of people are supporting the move to declare Pakistan a terror state, even a petition has also been filed and it's not only happening in India but several other nations too have similar belief. So, the country is somehow actually giving shelter and supporting terrorism," he said.

Kashyap made the comments in support of Karan Johar, who's upcoming entertainer 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' has long been under fire due to having Pakistani actor Fawad Khan as part of the star-studded cast.

He expressed annoyance on social media after cinema owners association decided to stay the release of movies starring Pakistani artistes.

The Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) earlier announced that they would not screen movies starring Pakistani artistes in the four states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa.