Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi bashed for ‘anti-Muslim’ content
Riz Ahmed is disgusted by the film
Photo: YouTube/Reliance Entertainment
Akshay Kumar’s latest release Sooryavanshi may be roaring at the box office, but for many people there is hardly anything new or surprising about its content.
Akshay’s highly anticipated cop drama was released in cinemas last week and set the ticket windows on fire for the first time since the coronavirus restrictions were eased in India. While director Rohit Shetty is busy defending what many people have called a negative portrayal of Muslims and Pakistan in the movie, President Dr Arif Alvi has expressed that the trend of propagating Islamophobic content will cost India itself.
In an interview after Sooryavanshi’s release, Rohit Shetty was asked about the depiction of Muslims in villainous roles. He responded by bringing up antagonists from his previous films and questioned why there was no objection to the negative characters that were not Muslims.
“If I ask you one question – Jaykant Shikre (the antagonist in Singham, essayed by Prakash Raj) was a Hindu, then came into this universe (Singham, Singham Returns, and Simmba), a Hindu Godman who was the villain. In Simmba, Durva Yashwant Ranade (played by Sonu Sood) was a Maharashtrian. In these three films, negative forces were Hindu. Why wasn’t that a problem?”
Sooryavanshi, as in several other Bollywood films, is all about a group of heroic police officers chasing terrorists who have crossed the border from Pakistan and are plotting attacks in Mumbai.
“If there is a terrorist who is from Pakistan, what caste will he be? We are not talking about caste,” Rohit remarked.
President Alvi retweeted an opinion piece, highlighting Islamophobia in Sooryavanshi, written for The Washington Post and remarked that such content is “dangerous for India”.
“In this Islamophobic hatred India will destroy itself, no less,” he wrote. “I hope and pray that sane elements within Indian society can prevent this.”
Dangerous for India. In this Islamophobic hatred India will destroy itself, no less. I hope & pray that sane elements within Indian society prevent this.
— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) November 16, 2021
Milton Kandera wrote that ‘the first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, https://t.co/gcyX1sNnIE
Riz Ahmed, who is vocal about the representation of Muslims in film, shared the article with a Face Vomiting emoji, expressing disgust at the content.
— Riz Ahmed (@rizwanahmed) November 15, 2021
Sooryavanshi stars an ensemble cast of Ranveer Singh and Ajay Devgn, who are reprising the roles of police officers from their previous cop dramas Simmba and Singham, respectively. They were both directed by Rohit Shetty.
