Fact Check: Did Mukesh Khanna Insult People Of Odisha & Bihar In ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ Review?

Mumbai: Mukesh Khanna, a loved and respected actor mainly for playing Shaktimaan and Bhisma Pitamah in BR Chopra’s epic television series ‘Mahabharat’, is in the eye of a storm.

He has been roundly criticised for his review of Nag Ashwin’s ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, especially his observation that audiences in Odisha and Bihar are intellectually inferior to those in the West.

“The level of intellect with which the film has been made is fine for Hollywood. People are more intelligent than us over there. Forgive me, but audiences in Odisha and Bihar are not going to understand this kind of filmmaking,” the veteran actor said in his review of the film starring Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan.

Following furore on social media, had to provide a clarification, saying that his intention was not to speak ill of the people of Odisha and Bihar.

“I want to address a misunderstanding that has arisen on social media. It has come to my attention that some people in Odisha and Bihar believe that I insulted their intelligence when reviewing the movie Kalki. However, this is not the case,” Mukesh wrote on X.

Claiming that he was only making a point the film would be difficult to understand, Mukesh stated: “In my review, I pointed out two flaws in the movie: firstly, it heavily relies on facts from the Mahabharata, and secondly, the first half of the movie is boring and confusing, making it difficult for the average moviegoer to understand. I used the villagers of Bihar and Odisha as examples to illustrate that the Hollywood-style first half of the movie may not be easily grasped by everyone.”

He further wrote that his intention was to criticise the film, not the people of Odisha or Bihar.

“I was criticising the movie, not the people of Bihar and Odisha… I have visited the temple of Puri. It’s important to understand that my comments were about the film and not an insult to the people of these regions. My experiences in Bihar and Odisha have been positive, and I have no intention of speaking ill of the people there. I hope this clarifies the situation.”