Anubav Sinha writes open letter to trolls accusing him of running propaganda in favour of Muslims
Mumbai, July 16 : Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, who is being accused of running propaganda to garner support and sympathy for Muslims through his upcoming film "Mulk", has hit out at trolls, saying the movie is not funded by either underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, the Congress or the RSS, and neither is it about Hindus or Muslims.
In a Twitter post on Monday, Sinha, who has directed the movie, articulated his thoughts about the negative comments that he has been receiving against the film, a courtroom drama about restoring the honour of a Muslim family accused of treason.
Sinha has slammed trolls for how they are "lost under heaps and heaps of hate posts that you write every day, every hour for four years now" and without having "a name or a face".
He explained: "'Mulk'... No it is not funded by Dawood Ibrahim. You can ask him. Not even Congress. You can ask Rahul (Gandhi). Not even the RSS. You can check with Mohan Bhagwatji. It is funded by Mr Deepak Mukut and his father Kamal Mukut, a veteran in this business.
"No... Every post of mine is not about 'Mulk'. We are spending crore of rupees promoting the film, we spent even more making it. These tweets are just a very minor part of the campaign and like I said, we do have a life.And a voice, so outside of our work we do talk."
He said reading posts from trolls makes him smile, and he "feels bad".
"Sometimes you do end up hurting us but mostly not because we know it is not your voice. In fact, it is not even you. It is just your fingers and your eyes being grossly underutilised by your masters. It is your master's instructions and we give a damn about them."
Sinha took the opportunity also to plug in the film, which features Rishi Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu, Neena Gupta, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Ashutosh Rana, Prachee Shah Paandya, Vartika Singh, Ashrut Jain and Indraneil Sengupta.
"'Mulk' is a very nice film. It is not doing what you think it is doing. It is not about your masters. Hindus or Muslims. It is about you and it is about me and mostly it is about us."
An open letter to all the trolls. Bring it on!!! pic.twitter.com/QSLMOBLmnz
— Anubhav Sinha (@anubhavsinha) July 15, 2018
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
