“Sooryavanshi,” an anti-Islamic Indian film starring Akshay Kumar, has been condemned by British actor Riz Ahmed.
Previously, the actor cited “Misrepresentation of Muslims in Hollywood and Bollywood films” as a cause for Islamophobia.
Rana Ayyub, a Washington Post global opinion writer, noted how the latest Indian film #Sooryavanashi “feeds into the Muslim as terrorist narrative.” “One of the biggest films making waves in It is a “criminal Islamophobia effort aimed to normalise Narendra Modi’s anti-Muslim agenda in Indian theatres,” she stated on Twitter.
Riz Ahmed used an emoji to express his disgust in response to her tweet on the microblogging site.
In July, the Reluctant Fundamentalist actor Riz Ahmed partnered with the Pillars Fund and the Ford Foundation to help Muslims showcase their talent onscreen without being pushed into roles that fuel Islamophobia. “Muslims in films are either invisible or villains,” he explained.
Arif Alvi, Pakistan’s current president, also took to the microblogging site to express his views. “Dangerous for India,” he stated. India, no less, will destroy itself in this Islamophobic hatred. I sincerely hope and pray that sane elements within Indian society prevent this from happening.”
On the platform, he also quoted a Czech author—Milton Kundera. ‘The first step in liquidating an individual is to erase his or her memory. Destroy its literature, its culture, and its history. Then commission someone to write new books, create a new culture, and invent a new history. Soon, that nation will forget who it is and what it was… “The conflict between man and power is the conflict between memory and forgetting. Milan Kundera,” he tweeted.
The Rohit Shetty-directed film grossed Rs 100 crore in its first week of release. It was one of the first films to be screened in Indian cinemas following an 18-month hiatus.
Shetty initially remained silent on the subject, but later addressed it in an interview. “If I may ask one question,” he stated, “Jaikant Shikre (in Singham) was a Hindu Marathi. Durva Ranade was a Maharashtrian in Simmba at the time. The antagonistic forces were Hindu, but why is that irrelevant?”