Actor Naseeruddin Shah has called out big production houses, and said some of the recently released “big budget movies” had "jingoistic" elements.
“They [films and makers] are also being financed, also promised a clean chit if they make movies which are propaganda, to put it bluntly,” he said during an interview with NDTV.
He went on to say that this was reminiscent of the time in Germany under the rule of Adolf Hitler, where filmmakers were asked to make films "propagating Nazi philosophy".
“In Nazi Germany also this was attempted. Filmmakers who were outstanding, world class, were rounded up and asked to make films propagating the Nazi philosophy,” he said.
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“The kind of big budget films that are coming. The big ones cannot disguise the jingoistic agenda,” he added.
During the interview, Shah also confessed that he was advised to change his name, when he started his career in the industry and added that he does not know whether it did his career any good.
“I was advised early in my career to change my name. I kept it and I don't know that it would have made any difference,” he said, however adding that he hasn’t witnessed any discrimination or outright bigotry in the film industry.
"I don't know if the Muslim community is facing any discrimination now in the film industry. I think our contribution is far too important. In this industry, there is only one god, and that is Mammon. The amount of revenue you can generate makes for the amount of respect that you receive in this industry. The three Khans are still at the very top, they are unchallenged and still delivering. I have never felt any discrimination,” he said.
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Recently the actor had found himself in a middle of a controversy after video of him slamming a section Indian muslims sympathising with the Taliban, went viral on Twitter.
“Even as the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan is a cause for concern for the whole world, celebrations of the return of the barbarians by some sections of Indian Muslims is no less dangerous. Like Mirza Ghalib had said a long time back, my relationship with my God is unparalleled. I don’t need political religion. Hindustani Islam is different from Islam that’s practice in the rest of the world and I pray to God that the time doesn’t come where we can’t even recognise that,” he said in the video.
