Naseeruddin Shah has said that his Facebook post supporting Diljit Dosanjh was not deleted by him, but taken down by Facebook. On Monday, the veteran actor had taken to his official Facebook page to share a strong statement in support of the Punjabi actor-singer for going ahead with the release of his controversial film Sardaar Ji 3 starring Pakistani actor Hania Aamir. However, it was taken down the next day which made many believe that the actor deleted his post.
Now, in an article for The Indian Express, Naseeruddin Shah has clarified that he didn’t delete his post. “If this is taken to be a justification of my Facebook post (which has been taken down, not deleted by me) in support of Diljit Dosanjh, so be it. But the fact is I need to justify nothing. I said whatever I had to say and I stand by it. Nor am I discouraged by the lack of support from the film industry. I wasn’t expecting any — they all either have too much to lose or they disagree,” Shah said.
He shared a message for his trolls and wrote, “And to the trolls, particularly the one who said to me ‘Pakistan nahin ab kabristaan’, I can only quote Jigar Moradabadi: ‘Mujhe de na ghaiz mein dhamkiyaan, giren lakh baar ye bijliyan, / Meri saltanat yehi aashiyaan, meri milkiyat yehi chaar par’ (Don’t threaten me in anger, let lightning strike a thousand time/ My nest is my domain, these four feathers all I own).”
On Monday, Naseeruddin shared on Facebook, “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”.”
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The veteran actor’s support comes at a time when Diljit is facing a ban by the Indian cine bodies for releasing his film starring Hania all over the world, except India. The makers of the film, with Diljit Dosanjh being a co-producer, decided to skip the film’s India release and said that there was no ban on casting Pakistani actors when they shot the film. Pakistani artistes were banned from working in India after the Pahalgam attack. This also led to the ban on Fawad Khan’s film Abir Gulaal, co-starring Vaani Kapoor.
It was later speculated that Diljit might get recast in his upcoming films, including Border 2, but after much back and forth, the FWICE has permitted producer Bhushan Kumar (T-Series) to finish the remaining portions with the actor. Bhushan, however, has said that he won’t cast Diljit in any future films.
