As Indian celebrities, even those in filmdom, come under scrutiny and the discourse gets more polarised, there are other victims. Social analyst Nandy had to be questioned by police in Jaipur for his comment during the Jaipur Literature Festival on corruption and caste. And Rushdie was in the country too, promoting "Midnight's Children" but was kept safely away from the Kolkata literary fest.
The right of thinkers to argue must be protected at all costs, an online petition said, defending Nandy.
By Wednesday evening, as the dust settled somewhat over the SRK brouhaha, Kamal Haasan had agreed to make cuts in his film but the Madras High Court had reimposed the stay.
As filmmakers know only too well, if you don't upset the fringe element of one religion or another, you hurt caste groups and other sub-sections, even barbers. It's a tricky tightrope walk. Remember how "Billu Barber" was finally released only as "Billu".
