Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, who made her acting debut in the 2006 film Gangster backed by Mahesh Bhatt, has now accused the filmmaker of hiding his “real” name and of “poetically inciting people for violence.”
On September 4, Kangana shared a video clip of film director Mahesh Bhatt, questioning him over his ‘real name’ and accusing him of inciting violence.
In an undated video, Mahesh Bhatt was heard as saying, “What I have understood by reading Islam is that a scared man (Dara hua aadmi) cannot be a Muslim. Wherever there is fear, there is no Islam. And where there is Islam, there is no fear.”
“Wherever there is darkness, there is no light. And where there is light, there is no darkness,” he continued. The veteran director then read out a hadith, shared with him by Maulana Mahmood Madani.
He said, “The Islamic hadith says that you must help your brother in all cases, irrespective of whether he is oppressed (mazlum) or cruel (zalim). This hadith must be recited before George Bush (US President) and Narendra Modi(the then Gujarat Chief Minister).”
“Why are you two committing atrocities on the adherents of a religion (Islam) which espouses peace and tolerance?,” he was seen whitewashing crimes committed by Islamists. Furthermore, Mahesh Bhatt claimed that the world’s greatest terrorist lives in the White House and not the mountains of Afghanistan (referring to Al-Qaeda).
She further questioned the filmmaker about the reason he stopped using his Muslim name, suggesting that he should have embraced the fact that he “converted” instead of changing names to “represent a certain religion”.
Commenting on another one where Bhatt is seen speaking about Islam as a peaceful religion and quoting a verse from the Holy Quran, she added, “I am told his real name is Aslam. He converted to marry his second wife (Soni Razdan) It is a beautiful name, why hide it?”
Kangana accused the Mahesh Bhatt of nearly assaulting her in 2020, when she turned down Dhokha, directed by his daughter, filmmaker-actor Pooja Bhatt.
She had also urged the Mumbai police to question the Bhatts in connection to the unnatural death of Shushant Singh Rajput. She added, “What was Mahesh Bhatt doing between Rhea and him? Everyone wants to know. Why is Mumbai Police not calling Mahesh Bhatt for questioning?”
Kangana also took an indirect dig at Mahesh Bhatt and his daughter, actor Alia Bhatt, earlier this year, ahead of the release of the film Gangubai Kathiawadi. She called Alia a “daddy’s angel” and her dad running a “movie mafia” as she commented on how “wrong” the casting was in the film.
