Actors not important, country needs to back soldiers: Pahlaj Nihalani

Censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani on Sunday said actors' comments on the controversy surrounding the demand for a ban on Pakistani artistes in Bollywood should not be given importance and people should rather think about the country's soldiers.

Bollywood has been divided on the issue of the demand for the ban on Pakistani artistest in the wake of Uri attack. While Salman Khan, Karan Johar, Hansal Mehta and Anurag Kashyap have criticised it, many in the industry such as Ajay Devgn, Randeep Hooda, Sonali Bendre and Nana Patekar have supported the ban.

"Every Indian should think of the soldiers who are fighting terrorism and the enemy on the border. Actors are insignificant and we should not waste our energy on the issue of who said what on the issue, people should not give any importance to the statements they make," Nihalani told reporters here today.

He said that the country should show solidarity towards the soldiers for their fight against terrorism and everyone should work towards condemning and eradicating terrorism from the country.

"Terrorism is our biggest enemy and our soldiers are fighting it, the need of the hour is to show solidarity with our soldiers."

While refusing to comment on the statement issued by certain actors on the issue of ban on Pakistani actors in India, he said that what actors said was insignificant as the most important thing for every Indian was the soldiers and the tricolor.

When asked to comment on the ongoing unrest in the Kashmir valley, the CBFC chief said that people of the country love Kashmir and its people, and would want to see peace return in the valley at an earliest.

"Kashmir has always been the first love of the Indian film industry and once when the situation returns to normal, producers would once again love to visit Kashmir and shoot movies there. Every Indian wants peace in the country and we want peace in Kashmir.