The superstar says he's embarrassed to hear of this image of India when travelling abroad.
Mayur Lookhar
His film Pink has been gaining rave reviews across the country, and Amitabh Bachchan is humbled by the positive response. However, the veteran actor has expressed deep concern over India's image abroad in the wake of the incessant sexual crimes against women in the country.
Bachchan, who was in the capital to promote Pink, said, "It’s very embarrassing when you visit a foreign country and you see people there talking to you and say, ‘Oh you are from India, the land of rape’. It’s very embarrassing. I want that to go."
“I hate it when I go abroad and people say, ‘You are from a third world country or you are from a developing country’. Why do they call us that? We all must work towards that and make it (India), a first world country and not a developing, but a developed country,”
The veteran actor recently wrote an open letter to his granddaughters Aradhya and Navya Naveli wherein he spoke about womens rights, marriage, gender issues etc.
Defending his letter, Bachchan said that people were asking about the concept of Pink, and it was then that prodcuer Shoojit Sircar suggested he should write a summary of the film in a letter and send it to his granddaughters.
While many appreciated Bachchan's letter, some journalists questioned the need for writing such a letter to girls and not boys.
Bachchan agreed with the reporters and said, "“I think you are right. This should happen. I always feel that if we need to bring any change in the society, then we need to look after our children from childhood. We should tell them what is wrong and what is right. We all are equal,"
India’s image abroad has taken a beating following the shocking 2012 Delhi gang rape. Despite the mass outrage sexual crimes against women have been on the rise. Some countries had issued advisories to their citizens asking them to take caution while travelling in some parts of India.
