MUMBAI: One of Bollywood’s leading directors called on its three superstar actors to break their silence about a new citizenship law that has triggered riots in India, saying they could influence millions of fans.
At least 21 people have died since crowds took to the streets enraged by the Hindu nationalist-led government’s legislation, which critics say discriminates against Muslims.
The violence and the political storm raging around it has posed a dilemma for a film industry that is dominated by Muslim actors, directors and crew but caters for India’s broader, predominantly Hindu population.
A handful of figures have spoken out against the law and the violence, some at rallies in Mumbai, the heart of Bollywood. But none of its three leading stars — Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan — have made public statements. All three are Muslim.
“I am really angry at anyone who has not spoken out,” director Anubhav Sinha, a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, told Reuters.
“These three actors and their fan following is something else. One word from them can influence millions,” added Sinha, who directed Shah Rukh Khan in the 2011 film “Ra One.”
He said it did not matter what they said about the law or the violence, just that they contributed to the debate. “I am not saying they should agree with me or others. Their opinion can be the opposite of what we have.”
None of the three Khans, who are not related, responded to Reuters requests for comment.
Industry insiders say the lack of comments or condemnations by some of the industry’s biggest names points to a broad cultural difference from Hollywood — where actors regularly take up political causes and criticize the government.
“In America, (President Donald) Trump cannot use the government machinery to go after actors who disagree with him, but here, that fear is very much there,” film critic and journalist Rajeev Masand told Reuters.
Modi has regularly appeared alongside actors and film industry figures at public events. The industry has, in turn, produced films that some critics have said approached political endorsements.
Three movies have appeared this year with lead actors in prime ministerial roles, including a biopic titled “PM Narendra Modi.”
Actress Sayani Gupta — who appeared with Shah Rukh Khan in his 2015 film “Fan” — last week retweeted a selfie that popular young actors including Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt took with Modi at an event. She added the message: “The time has come to speak up guys.” A representative for Ranveer Singh said he was not available for comment while Bhatt’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond.
For protesters, especially those at Jamia Millia University in New Delhi, where Shah Rukh Khan was enrolled in his youth, his silence feels like a betrayal.
“Someone like him staying silent is unacceptable,” said literature student Zoya Nadeem Azmi.
Director urges Bollywood stars to break silence over citizenship law, violence
https://arab.news/4kc76
Director urges Bollywood stars to break silence over citizenship law, violence
- Anubhav Sinha called on three superstar actors to break their silence about a new citizenship law
- Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan have not spoken against the law in public
Carney says Canada has no plans to pursue free trade agreement with China as Trump threatens tariffs
Carney says Canada has no plans to pursue free trade agreement with China as Trump threatens tariffs
TORONTO: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday his country has no intention of pursuing a free trade deal with China. He was responding to US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 100 percent tariff on goods imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor went ahead with a trade deal with Beijing.
Carney said his recent agreement with China merely cuts tariffs on a few sectors that were recently hit with tariffs.
Trump claims otherwise, posting that “China is successfully and completely taking over the once Great Country of Canada. So sad to see it happen. I only hope they leave Ice Hockey alone! President DJT”
The prime minister said under the free trade agreement with the US and Mexico there are commitments not to pursue free trade agreements with nonmarket economies without prior notification.
“We have no intention of doing that with China or any other nonmarket economy,” Carney said. “What we have done with China is to rectify some issues that developed in the last couple of years.”
In 2024, Canada mirrored the United States by putting a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles from Beijing and a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum. China had responded by imposing 100 percent import taxes on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25 percent on pork and seafood.
Breaking with the United States this month during a visit to China, Carney cut its 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on those Canadian products.
Carney has said there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports coming into Canada at a tariff rate of 6.1 percent, growing to about 70,000 over five years. He noted there was no cap before 2024. He also has said the initial cap on Chinese EV imports was about 3 percent of the 1.8 million vehicles sold in Canada annually and that, in exchange, China is expected to begin investing in the Canadian auto industry within three years.
Trump posted a video Sunday in which the chief executive of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association warns there will be no Canadian auto industry without US access, while noting the Canadian market alone is too small to justify large scale manufacturing from China.
“A MUST WATCH. Canada is systematically destroying itself. The China deal is a disaster for them. Will go down as one of the worst deals, of any kind, in history. All their businesses are moving to the USA. I want to see Canada SURVIVE AND THRIVE! President DJT,” Trump posted on social media.
Trump’s post on Saturday said that if Carney “thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken.”
“We can’t let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the U.S,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“We have a , but based off — based on that, which is going to be renegotiated this summer, and I’m not sure what Prime Minister Carney is doing here, other than trying to virtue-signal to his globalist friends at Davos.”
Trump’s threat came amid an escalating war of words with Carney as the Republican president’s push to acquire Greenland strained the NATO alliance.
Carney has emerged as a leader of a movement for countries to find ways to link up and counter the US under Trump. Speaking in Davos before Trump, Carney said, “Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu” and he warned about coercion by great powers — without mentioning Trump’s name. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the World Economic Forum.
Trump’s push to acquire Greenland has come after he has repeatedly needled Canada over its sovereignty and suggested it also be absorbed into the United States as a 51st state. He posted an altered image on social media this week showing a map of the United States that included Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba as part of its territory.
