No matter what, people like us stay positive: Shah Rukh Khan on 'Pathaan' row
Kolkata, Dec 15: Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan on Thursday said that whatever happens surrounding people like him, they will stay positive.
The comments came in the midst of a row over a song in his upcoming film 'Pathaan'.
Addressing a gathering on the occasion of the inauguration of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), Khan said cinema brings to the fore humanity's immense capacity for compassion, unity and brotherhood.
"No matter what, people like us will stay positive," he said.
Protests have been staged in various parts of the country alleging a community has been offended by the content of the song "Besharam Rang" in the yet to be released movie 'Pathaan'.
"Cinema is the best place to sustain a counter-narrative that speaks to the larger nature of humankind," Khan, the guest of honour at KIFF, said.
The superstar also described cinema as a vehicle "for people of different colours, castes and religions to better understand each other".
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
