Mumbai, India’s financial metropolis and centre of Hindi cinema, has been a frenzy of activity during the last several days. The Bombay High Court granted conditional release to Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, and this has changed many things.
In the middle of all the mudslinging at Bollywood, the state’s Minority Development, Aukaf, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship Minister Nawab Malik spoke out passionately in defence of the film industry.
Taking note of his statements, filmmaker-actress Pooja Bhatt expressed gratitude to Malik for his support of the profession and the city of Mumbai at a time when the business and its people are continually being vilified.
She took to Twitter and wrote: “Thank you, @nawabmalikncp, for speaking out against the orchestrated campaign of hatred directed towards the Hindi cinema industry. We feel less orphaned as a result of it. Bombay/Mumbai and Bollywood are inextricably interwoven. After all, this is the city of dreams that has supported millions of people throughout the years.”
Pooja’s tweet comes at a time when the film industry is dealing with a barrage of unwanted comments and criticism from all sides. She had previously responded to Shah Rukh Khan’s visit to Arthur Road jail when the superstar went to meet his son.
Pooja, seeing the actor encircled by the media, had exhorted the media fraternity in a tweet that read: “Greetings, members of the press. I understand that things are tougher than ever and that your respective companies are putting enormous pressure on you to grab a byte even if it means jeopardising your own health and safety, but how will you explain this pack-like behaviour to your own children? Tragic.”
