Swara on Nawazuddin ‘Ram Leela’ row

Actress Swara Bhaskar said on Tuesday that she hopes the “pathetic mentality” that didn’t allow a talented actor like Nawazuddin Siddiqui to perform in the Ram Leela, a play, is eliminated from society.

Siddiqui was reportedly asked last week by far-right regional political party Shiv Sena volunteers to pull out of a Ram Leela show in his hometown, Budhana in Uttar Pradesh, as he is a Muslim. The political party workers complained that a Muslim actor cannot be taking part in the Hindu play.

Bhaskar tweeted: “May we rise above the pathetic mentality that disallows a Muslim artist from participating in a Ram Leela performance. Nawazuddin Siddiqui.”