Is Bollywood A Soft Target?

A few years back, when Shah Rukh Khan was targeted by the Shiv Sena for speaking in favor of Pakistan’s inclusion in the IPL, his film My Name Is Khan was almost banned by the Sena in Mumbai. Then, he had to fight his own battle; the film fraternity did not come out in the open to support him for the fear of incurring the wrath of Sena. SRK too never spoke why he was targeted but in one of his interviews he obliquely hinted at the religion factor. Likewise, when Aamir Khan in an interaction with the Indian Express said that his wife had told him that she wanted to leave the country over an ‘intolerant’ issue, he faced a lot of flak. The actor had to do a lot of firefighting via social media till the issue simmered down. Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali was attacked by the conservatives during the making of Padmavat. Bhansali did not speak a word about it; he quietly made changes and released the film. It was Sushant Singh Rajput’s death that brought to fore that Bollywood is not united and that they don’t speak in one voice to fight the injustices done to them. Most of them admit, they fear being singled out by politicians or government agencies and this is why they don’t openly show their solidarity or express their views.