Actor Mukesh Khanna, who is quite popular as Shaktimaan and also for his role Bhishma in BR Chopra’s Epic television series Mahabharat, has been receiving a huge backlash on social media for his recent problematic comment, which he made while reviewing latest pan India blockbuster from Tollywood, Kalki 2898 AD on his YouTube channel.
Khanna stated that while he would give 100 points to Kalki 2898 AD for the performances and scale, he felt that the film was designed to appeal to the West and the audiences in Bihar and Odisha wouldn’t understand it. His comment received severe flak from the internet.
"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,” he said. His statement has prompted outrage on social media, with netizens calling him out for his disrespectful remark.
Khanna also criticised director Nag Ashwin for showing a misleading story about the Mahabharata. He said that he found the filmmakers’ decision to change elements of the Mahabharata to be offensive. He objected about Krishna removing mani from the forehead of Ashwatthama in the film. He said it was Draupadi who instructed to remove the mani after he killed all her five children.
Meanwhile 'Kalki 2898 AD' is on its way to Rs 1000 crore mark which is considered as the biggest achievement for an Indian film.