India’s Bollywood stars slammed for supporting Palestinians, ignoring domestic issues – Technologist

Among the Bollywood celebrities who have voiced support for Palestinians were Madhuri Dixit, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Varun Dhawan, Dia Mirza and Sonakshi Sinha.

However, in the face of heavy trolling with some users referring to oppressed Hindus in South Asia, several Bollywood stars such as Madhuri Dixit who posted during the “Eyes on Rafah” campaign deleted their social media accounts.

Bollywood actor Zeeshan Ayyub has criticised the celebrities who have highlighted the tragedy in Rafah yet stayed silent on domestic issues that warrant attention.

“I call these celebrities spineless. They will only speak on issues … when it suits them, when they know it is not going to come back to them,” Ayyub, who has appeared in more than 25 films, told This Week in Asia.

Ayyub, who is also an activist, has dismissed the celebrities’ Rafah postings as a publicity stunt. He said: “They want to be remembered for taking a stand on an issue condemned by all major countries. I bet most of these celebrities don’t know in which part of Palestine Rafah is located.”

Following the recent election, Ayyub said some celebrities might be emboldened to question the Indian government. “Now as we have a weaker government at the centre, you might see some of these celebrities sharing a meme or a post critical of the government.”

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Indian filmmaker and producer Onir, who prefers to be known by his first name only, said it was unfair to pick on Bollywood celebrities for speaking out on specific issues.

“People always keep on pointing out Bollywood being selective in raising their voice, but that is something everybody does, from journalists to activists people only speak on issues they are comfortable with,” Onir said.

Onir, who has directed more than 10 Bollywood films, said industry participants were generally wary of speaking on issues that might anger the government or its support base.

“For some, there is a fear of the state, some don’t want to jeopardise their careers, others are mindful of receiving backlash from religious quarters, so everybody has their reasons to speak selectively,” Onir said.

“We have individual influencers in Bollywood whom society looks up to for various reasons and they should comprehend that their voice matters to their followers.”

The biggest consideration for outspoken celebrities is the potential financial impact if they were to address controversial issues in India given that they work in an industry valued at 197 billion Indian rupees (US$2.4 billion) last year.

Filmmaker and scholar Yousuf Saeed told This Week in Asia that while many Bollywood celebrities have a stance on various political issues, they were wary of speaking out against the government as this could affect the certification of their films and consequently lead to financial losses.

“Many producers even instruct actors and actresses to avoid any controversy given their millions of rupees invested in the films. There are many Bollywood actors and actresses who have lost good film opportunities because of their political stance on issues.”