Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar said on Tuesday that the Hindi film industry was under the scanner due to its “high profile” nature and that was the “price” it had to pay.
The veteran writer’s statement comes at a time when Bollywood and its celebrity culture is attracting renewed attention following the arrest of superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan in an alleged drug seizure case on a cruise ship.
There were voices on social media who felt the case against Aryan Khan was a deliberate attempt to target the film industry.
When asked if he thinks Bollywood is regularly the target of raids, Akhtar told reporters, “This is the price the film industry has to pay to get high profile. people are having fun pulling you down, throwing shit at you. If you are no one, then who has time to throw stones at you? ” Akhtar was speaking at the launch of the book ” Changemakers written by authors Almas Virani and Sweta Samota.
The 23-year-old was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (BNC) on October 3 aboard the cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai. Without naming names, Akhtar said the superstar’s son’s case attracted more media attention than an alleged “billion dollar” drug recovery from a port, referring to the seizure of 2,988 kg of heroin at the port of Mundra located in the Kutch district of Gujarat.
“You find cocaine worth a billion Rs in a port, elsewhere there were 1,200 people with ganja and a total sum of Rs 1 lakh 30,000, according to the media.
“Now it’s become big national news, but I haven’t seen any headline on the billion dollar cocaine …” he added.
When asked specifically if he thought Shah Rukh Khan and Aryan Khan were being targeted, Akhtar declined to elaborate. Aryan Khan is currently being held at Arthur Road Prison in central Mumbai. A special court released his and two other bail applications last week on October 20.
(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
