Filmmaker Vikas Bahl says that Bollywood celebrities shouldn’t talk about things they aren’t experts in.
The Queen director was referencing the numerous celebrities who have offered their opinions on the cross-border tension between India and Pakistan.
“I don’t know why Bollywood has to actually comment on everything... because there are so many issues [to think about], and so many people in the country are well-versed with the issue,” Bahl said.
Bahl said “Bollywood is over-credited for words of wisdom on everything”.
“Bollywood need not comment on everything. If we are well-versed and we are informed, then yes. I don’t have to comment on very issue to do with women in India. I am honestly not enabled as I have not worked in that area. I might have done one piece of work and actually my learning about it happened over the course of Queen,” he added, talking about his hit film starring Kangana Ranaut, about a tradition woman who goes on a solo honeymoon after her wedding gets cancelled.
Following the Uri terror attack on September 18, right-wing party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) issued an ultimatum asking all Pakistani artists to leave India within 48 hours or face trouble.
Since then, the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) announced it has decided to ban Pakistani artists and technicians from working in India until the hostilities between the two countries subside.
While several celebrities such as Salman Khan, Ranaut and Adnan Sami have shared their views on the matter, a large number of Bollywood stars as well as Pakistani artists such as Fawad Khan and Atif Aslam have refrained from commenting.
Bahl also said that sometimes celebrities are called to share their views in order to boost a TV show.
“It is the marketing of that show. Unless you have got a Bollywood personality along with three other people or three Bollywood personalities and one other personality [who actually knows the issue], the shows don’t work,” said the director, who was speaking at the Enterprise Digital Transformation Summit 2016 in Mumbai on Thursday.
Talking about how technology has changed the world of cinema, Bahl said: “It has its pros and cons. The plus being that whatever we make... it is seen by people anywhere, and it has a much longer shelf life.
“The sad part is that when we start making movies our dream always is that people walk into the theatre to watch it and we make movies for the big screen... So it has got pros and cons and we live with it.”
On the film front, after the failure of his Shaandaar, Bahl is busy working on his next — a biopic on Bihar’s innovative educational coaching institute Super 30 and its founder Anand Kumar.
Reports were rife that he would cast Shahid Kapoor as the lead in the film. Bahl refuted the claims saying that “the script is not ready so getting the artist is far away”.
