Dubai: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on Wednesday stuck to his stand that Gujurat Chief Minister Narendra Modi shouldn’t apologise for the 2002 Gujurat riots, even it meant alienating his fans in the Muslim community.
Modi has been accused of deliberately allowing anti-Muslim riots that killed more than 1,000 people in his state.
“We go to promote our movies. Mr Modi is the chief minister of that state. You have your judicial system and they have let him go scot-free. You have your investigation and CBI who have given him a clean chit. So why should he apologise for something that he is not at fault for?,” said Khan. He was in Dubai for the world premiere of his drama Jai Ho, directed by his brother Sohail.
Khan, a Bollywood actor who’s rarely far from controversy, attended a kite-flying ceremony with Modi, expected to be a candidate for India’s prime minister, last week.
“I had a great time flying kites in Gujarat. Modi cut one of my kites and that shouldn’t have happened. To be fair, I wasn’t concentrating,” said Khan. He was also unapologetic about performing at the annual Saifai Mahotsav fair for a hefty fee in Uttar Pradesh, when thousands were dying in relief camps near by.
“I went to perform for 2.5 lakh people. I had a great time there,” said Khan. He also jokingly added that it was the first time that a neta [political leader] has publicized a film for an abhineta (actor).
In Jai Ho, Khan plays an Indian army officer who hopes to start a nationwide movement to encourage people to help each other, instead of relying on elected leaders to bring about social change.
“It’s the most difficult to do a film that carries a message, because it can get preachy and lecture-like. Tomorrow, we will know if it is in the right path or not,” said Khan. Despite surviving in decades in Bollywood and delivering a string of hits such as Dabbang and Maine Pyaar Kiya, Khan claims he feels nervous before every film.
“It’s the same feeling when you plan to throw a big party and you fear that nobody will turn up,” said Khan.
