Mumbai: Actor Arjun Rampal, who has been praised for his performance in ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’, recently faced criticism from writer Shobhaa De for ending his speech at an awards show with the chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai.’
A few days ago, while speaking about his experience working on ‘Dhurandhar’ and its sequel at the HELLO! Hall of Fame Awards, the actor concluded his acceptance speech with that slogan.
“On my birthday, I saw the horrors of 26/11 play out. In the morning, when I drove back home, I had to stop at least three times because I felt like I was going to be sick. When Aditya Dhar narrated the 26/11 sequence to me, I knew I was going to have my revenge — and that’s what I did with Dhurandhar. All I want to say is, Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” Arjun said.
In her latest column for ThePrint titled ‘Why Arjun Rampal saying ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ should worry Bollywood audiences,’ Shobhaa claimed that production houses and major studios are increasingly fast-tracking projects backed by pro-Hindutva voices.
Shobhaa’s claim did not go down well with Arjun Rampal’s girlfriend Gabriella Demetriades, who hit back in the comments section, calling the statement “outrageous.”
Earlier, hailing Arjun for his performance in the sequel of the spy thriller, Gabriella wrote in her Instagram post, “Dhurandar day … saw it last night and have to say , it’s my favourite Hindi film of all time. @rampal72 patience, persistence and positivity, you’re always inspiring and always raising the bar . #adityadhar is a legend and @ranveersingh you’re a star . The casting is a masterpiece @castingchhabra each and every person in the film is epic.”
Helmed by Aditya Dhar, ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ opened to positive reviews, collecting Rs 145 crore on its first day of release. In just seven days, the film has reportedly crossed Rs 700 crore at the domestic box office and Rs 1,000 crore worldwide.
