Mumbai: Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah has batted for people-to-people interaction between citizens of India and Pakistan while standing by actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh, whose latest film Sardaar Ji 3 has been banned in India. The film features Pakistani actress Hania Aamir.
“What these goons want is to put an end to personal interaction between the people of India and Pakistan. I have close relatives and some dear friends there and no one can stop me from meeting them or sending them love whenever I feel like it,” the 75-year-old actor wrote on Facebook.
Sardaar Ji 3 has not been released in India but is playing in overseas markets and Pakistan. The casting choice sparked backlash after the Pahalgam terror attack and the India-Pakistan conflict that followed.
Shah, unlike others in the film fraternity like Javed Akhtar, had maintained silence after the terror strike in Pahalgam. This did not go unnoticed. Pakistani actress Bushra Ansari had referred to this silence in her attack on Akhtar, who was extremely vocal against Pakistan after the Pahalgam incident.
“I STAND FIRMLY WITH DILJIT. The dirty tricks deptt of Jumla Party has been awaiting a chance to attack him. They think they’ve got it at last. He was not responsible for the casting of the film, the director was. But no one knows who he is whereas Diljit is known the world over, and he agreed to the cast because his mind is not poisoned. What these goons want is to put an end to personal interaction between the people of India and Pakistan. I have close relatives and some dear friends there and no one can stop me from meeting them or sending them love whenever I feel like it.
And my response to those who will say “Go to Pakistan” is “GO TO KAILASA”, Shah wrote.
Interestingly, though the actor mentioned a ‘Jumla Party’ in his message, the BJP has stood by Dosanjh. “Diljit Dosanjh is not just a celebrated artist—he’s a national asset and a global ambassador of Indian culture. FWICE’s call to revoke his Indian citizenship over an inadvertent and pre-incident film shoot is not only unfair but shockingly disproportionate,” BJP national spokesperson R P Singh posted on X on Sunday.
Dosanjh, who has also stood firm on his choice to release his film internationally, recently shared a glimpse of how audiences in Pakistan are responding to Sardaar Ji 3.
The singer-actor re-posted a video capturing the audience’s enthusiastic reaction inside a Pakistani theatre. The clip featured actress Hania on screen, drawing cheers from the crowd. In a separate post, Diljit proudly highlighted the film’s global box office performance, revealing that it had earned Rs 11.03 crore within just two days of its release. Earlier, the actor-singer had said that the project was completed before any of the current political tensions surfaced.