I've right to question PM, says Kashyap, insists on apology

Mumbai: Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who got trolled by many on social media for asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise for his trip to Pakistan in December last year, says he has every right to question the PM.

Kashyap vented his frustration on Sunday following the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India's decision not to screen movies with Pakistani actors, a move that has hit hard film-maker Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" which features Pakistani Fawad Khan.

He said that Modi should say "sorry" for his trip to meet the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on December 25 as at the same time, Karan was shooting "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil".

This did not go down well with people on Twitter.

Justifying his tweets, Kashyap wrote: "Just to make it clear, I complain because I expect my government to protect us, I question the PM because I have every right to."

"I am not going to address a party that has become redundant and irrelevant and is trying to find relevance again by using the film industry. We have been vulnerable for long, and have been paying the price by being used by everyone to find any kind of standing."

The director contended that the real trade between the two countries across the border has "not faced any kind of opposition, but we must pay the price for it".

"And anyone who questions my love for the country by shouting, must prove their love by representing the country either on the border or prove your love by representing the country in an honourable way. Not by shouting here (on social media)," he said.

"And yes Sir Narendra Modi we need protection.. It's really high time. I refuse to live in the fear created by blind fanatics that you cannot have a conversation with your PM or question him or expect from him."

"I would rather ask my questions directly to the PM than trying to impress him by fake nationalism of banning ‘what puts you in news'," he added.

Kashyap, known for making hard-hitting films, has directed movies like "Black Friday", "Dev.D", "Gulaal", "That Girl in Yellow Boots", "Gangs of Wasseypur" and "Bombay Velvet".

The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India on Friday said that movies featuring Pakistani actors would not be screened in single screen theatres in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat.

The decision came amid heightened India-Pakistan tensions in the wake of a terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Army's surgical strikes on Pakistani territory.