Onir says he doesn’t like Besharam Rang, month after slamming those who criticised it: ‘But I will speak up for…’

Filmmaker Onir has said that he doesn’t like Pathaan song Besharam Rang, a month after he slammed those who criticised it. Speaking at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, Onir also said that isn’t sure why his talk at the recent Bhopal literary fest was cancelled at the last moment. Onir also revealed that he was asked if his tweet ‘on the controversy’ over the song was connected to the cancellation. (Also Read | Besharam Rang row: Onir asks if ‘now goons will decide what we watch’)

Besharam Rang released on December 12, and soon became the centre of controversy. A section of the people found Besharam Rang objectionable over the choice of costumes and colours. The song featured Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone romancing in Spain.

As quoted by news agency PTI, Onir said, “Someone asked me if this (talk cancellation) was a repercussion of my tweet on the controversy over Besharam song from Pathaan. I don’t like the song, but I will speak up for something that is wrong. I don’t see my colleagues commenting. I have had a few people inboxing me, and I am like… Your love in the inbox means nothing, if you cannot come out and stand by me out in the open.”

In December when Besharam Song was released, Onir had called out a Twitter user when they shared screenshots of the song and tried to troll it. The person had written, “What kind of a husband allows or tolerates public molestation of his wife for a few bucks? Just asking !!!”

Onir responded, “Yucks .., sick mentality . Use of words like ‘allows’, ‘ tolerate” shows that he belongs to that tribe of men who thinks an husband owns the women . And only a vulgar mindset could make a montage like this . Retired and now nothing better to do than zoom in pics n spread hate.”

He had also written, “Can’t imagine that the most important thing to debate for a bunch of politicians (whose claim to fame is propagating hate and dividing the country & instigating violence) & the mainstream media is the costume worn by two actors for a song!” He also added the hashtags–unemployment, inflation and climate crisis.

Re-sharing a video posted by a news channel on Twitter in which MLA Sadhvi Pragya spoke against Pathaan, Onir had said, “No point of film certification board/judiciary/law enforcement agencies .. now goons will decide what we watch. Terrible times …”

Directed by Siddharth Anand, Pathaan is scheduled to hit the theatres on January 25. Apart from Shah Rukh and Deepika, the film also John Abraham, Ashutosh Rana and Dimple Kapadia.