Vivek Agnihotri takes a dig at Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan song Besharam Rang: ‘Don’t watch it if you…’

After the makers unveiled the first song from Pathaan – Besharam Rang, the music video has been in news. The track features Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in a never-seen-before look as they dance their hearts out. However, the song, which features Deepika in an orange swimsuit, was criticised by a section of people, and also led to Pathaan facing boycott calls. Now, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has reshared a video criticising Deepika and Shah Rukh’s Besharam Rang, and said people who were ‘secular’ should not watch what he had shared. Also read: Pathaan song Besharam Rang ‘shot with dirty mindset’, says MP minister Narottam Mishra; adds film may be banned in state

Vivek Agnihotri, whose film The Kashmir Files is one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of the year, took to Twitter on Wednesday to reshare a video featuring a ‘young fan’ as she criticised Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh’s Pathaan song. Along with it, he tweeted, “WARNING… video against Bollywood. Don’t watch it if you are a ‘secular’.”

In the clip Vivek shared, Deepika and Shah Rukh Khan were seen dancing on the beach in the Besharam Rang music video. Along with it, it showed a girl, who called herself a ‘big fan’ of the film’s cast, director and producer. After praising the cast and crew, as Deepika’s visuals played, she asked them in Hindi, “Why do you wear such provocative clothes and show such moves… you call this content?”

She further blamed such videos for the crimes against women, and asked why the cast and makers could not make ‘saaf-suthra (clean) content’ like others do on OTT platforms. She asked in Hindi, “Why do you do this? For money? What are these words you use for songs, the costumes you make celebs wear. Are you not ashamed?” Towards the end of the video, the girl spoke on behalf of women in India, and asked the movie’s makers to not make such ‘provocative’ films and content. “Please change your scripts, and change your direction…”

Earlier, Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra had threatened to not let Pathaan release in the state if the costumes and scenes were not changed in the film. Recently, veteran actor Asha Parekh also reacted to the criticism of Deepika and Shah Rukh’s Pathaan song. Talking to Aaj Tak, she 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).”

Pathaan’s first song, Besharam Rang, was released on December 12. The dance number, composed by Vishal and Sheykhar and sung by Shilpa Rao, Caralisa Monteiro, Vishal and Sheykhar, was filmed in beautiful locations in Spain. Pathaan, which also stars John Abraham, will be released on January 25, 2023.