Mumbai fine the way it is: B-town reacts to Shobhaa De's tweet

Reacting to celebrity author Shobhaa De's tweet speaking of separate statehood for Mumbai, Bollywood filmmakers have said that they love their city as it is.

Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, known for movies like "Arth" and "Saaransh", says "Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra and that is how it should stay".

"There is no reason for it to be carved out and made into a separate state. It should be connected with the state and the rest of India. As it is, Mumbaikars are inward-looking and have a ghetto mentality. If you make them separate, then they will cut themselves out from from the rest of the country," Bhatt told IANS.

Shobhaa De's comment on micro-blogging site Twitter irked sentiments of several people across the board. Her comment came post the decision after Telangana was carved out as a separate state from Andhra Pradesh.

She had said: "Maharashtra and Mumbai??? Why not? Mumbai has always fancied itself as an independent entity, anyway. This game has countless possibilities."

"Delhi Belly" director Abhinay Deo says fragmentation will not bring about any good as there's no end to cities asking for separate state status.

"I don't understand how fragmenting a state further is going to change it (the scene). India was fragmented and operated as separate states a long time back, and with their own judicial systems. Then the country was united after that. Why must we fragment (now)? There will be no end like this," he added.

Director Milan Luthria, director of the forthcoming "Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara!", doesn't support the 'separate state' idea too.

"I am pretty okay with the way things are going on right now. There is no real reason for any change. I love my city," he said.

Nevertheless, Bhatt feels it is not right to target anyone just for sharing their views on a social networking site.

"It is very heartbreaking to see that if someone expresses her personal opinion, she should be terrorised into silence like this," he said.