Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra, who has mostly stayed away from controversies has recently been in the news for all the wrong reasons. He will now pay the price for putting his foot in his mouth, it seems.
When Sidharth visited the recently-concluded Bigg Boss 11 to promote his film Aiyaary, little did he know that he would be at the receiving end of a backlash from his own film fraternity. When Aiyaary team visited Bigg Boss, Manoj Bajpayee asked Sidharth to deliver a dialogue in Bhojpuri: “Shikar to sab kehu karela, lekin baagh jaisan sikar kehu na kare.” He repeated the lines after Manoj and said, “Aisa lag raha ki neeche baitha hua hai, latrine me. Bathroom me kar rahe hain ki kaha hain?”
Well, this thing did not go down well with the Bhojpuri-speaking community, and Sid was slammed by actress Neetu Chandra, who took to Twitter to write, “So disappointed @S1dharthM some1 who is so fortunate 2 work wd d best. Who despite being an outsider has made a name 4 himself,4 U 2 use ur words so loosely.2 disrespect #Bhojpuri on national TV. SHOCKED! How on earth does speaking in #Bhojpuri gives u a latrine feeling.Shame on U (sic).”
While Sidharth has already apologised on Twitter, “I recently tried speaking a new language while I was on a TV show. In the process if I inadvertently hurt anyone’s feelings or sentiments, I apologise and assure you that no disrespect was meant in any way (sic),” he tweeted on Jan 22, another Bhojpuri actor and BJP MP Manoj Tiwari has stated that he would file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against Sidharth Malhotra.
Tiwari expressed his displeasure over Malhotra’s comments by saying, “I just got to know about this. This person’s behaviour is utterly shameful and extremely objectionable. I will file a PIL against his remarks on Bhojpuri language by Thursday. This is a country where the first president Rajendra Prasad spoke Bhojpuri. Bhojpuri is spoken by 22 crore people in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. The language spoken by the maximum number of bureaucrats in India is Bhojpuri. Sidharth Malhotra has insulted all of them.”
Ravi Kishan who is one of India’s topmost Bhojpuri stars feel sorry for Sidharth Malhotra. “This is nothing but ignorance of the highest order and shows what isolated lives Bollywood stars live. For Sidharth Malhotra’s kind information, Bhojpuri is the native of many eminent scholars, scientists and artists. Amitabh Bachchan Saab and his father the great Harivansh Rai Bachchanji spoke Bhojpuri. The first president of India Rajendra Prasad spoke Bhojpuri. In fact, it was Rajendra Babu, as he was affectionately known, who requested actor Nasir Hussain (not the filmmaker the character actor) to make India’s first Bhojpuri film Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chedaibo. That’s how the Bhojpuri film industry started, of which I am a proud part. Sidharth should look beyond Bollywood. This is a land of multiple languages and cinema.”
However, Sidharth’s co-star Manoj Bajpayee stood by him saying that it was all done in good spirit. “It was all fun and there was no intention of making a mockery.i vouch for it as I was there and I understand and speak the language as good as or better than many. Bhujail neek rahi, Khus rahi(sic),” he wrote on Twitter. Sidharth was unavailable for further comments.
