Amidst all the hate storms blowing against Shah Rukh Khan, National Award winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar on Wednesday came up in support of him and said that blaming the Bollywood superstar like this is wrong.
"Whoever has said this, is his personal view. I think blaming Shah Rukh Khan like this is wrong. The nation loves him and he is a big superstar," Bhandarkar told ANI.
"I don't think there is any atmosphere of intolerance in the country. Things are very normal and the whole issue has been blown out of proportion by telling that the atmosphere is bad or hostile," he added.
Bhandarkar insisted that India is a democratic nation and everyone has the right to express their views.
"Shah Rukh's point of view is his personal and we should respect it, that's the beauty of our democracy," he said.
King Khan had joined the debate swirling around 'intolerance' on his 50th birthday, when he told a leading news channel that there was 'nothing worse than religious intolerance and that it would take India to the Dark Ages'.
"Our religion cannot be defined or showed respect to by our meat-eating habits. How banal and silly is that," he said, supporting the views of writers, filmmakers and others who have returned their awards in protest against the rising intolerance.
BJP MP Yogi Adityanath compared Shah Rukh Khan to 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and said the actor was speaking in the same language of terror.
"All such people should go to Pakistan where they will be shown their true position in the scheme of things. Hafiz Saeed and Shah Rukh Khan speak the same language," Adityanath said.
