Asha Parekh reacts to Pathaan row, says ‘we are becoming too close-minded’

Asha Parekh, who was awarded with the Dadasaheb Phalke award in September, recently spoke up about negativity the film Pathaan and its actor Deepika Padukone received. After the release of its first song Besharam Rang, Deepika was criticised by a few people for donning an orange bikini. The veteran actor came to Deepika’s defence. (Also read: Asha Parekh on her Dadasaheb Phalke Award: ‘All my desires are now fulfilled’)

The 80-year-old actress has retired from films now for over two decades but can be seen occasionally in television reality shows for special episodes. In 2017, Asha released her autobiography, Hit Girl, which was written along with journalist Khalid Mohamed.

In an interview with Aaj Tak, the veteran actor was asked about the negativity about the film industry that persists on social media. She referred to people attacking Deepika in the song Besharam Rang and said, “Yeh bahut galat hai, film toh film hai. Jiska mool, maksad entertainment hai. Ab kisi actress ne, orange pehen liya, ya naam kuch aisa ho gaya toh usse ban kar rahe hai? Yeh nahi achha lagta hai (This is very wrong, a film is a film. Which is mostly about entertainment. If an actress wears orange, or the name is different, you start banning it? It doesn’t look good).” She went to say that the film industry is dying as films are not working. If people continue to boycott films on top of this, then it harms the industry as it hinders more films from being made.

She added, “Bikini per bawaal nahi tha, yahan toh orange rang ki bikini ko lehkar sawaal uth rahe hai. Mujhe lagta hai ki hamara dimaag ab bandh hota ja raha hai. Hum bahut hi chhoti soch ke hote ja rahe hai, jo galat hai. Bollywood hamesha ke liye soft target raha hai (It was not an uproar on the bikin, it was the orange colour of the bikini that was being questioned. I think that our brain is going off. We are becoming too close-minded, which is wrong. Bollywood is always a soft target).

Pathaan, which also stars Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham, releases on January 25, 2023. Produced by Yash Raj Films, it is directed by Siddharth Anand.