Ravi Kishan, actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP) from Gorakhpur, criticized the Hindi film industry on Monday in the Lok Sabha accusing it for its alleged drug menace. Responding to him yesterday in the Rajya Sabha, Jaya Bachchan, actress and Samajwadi Party MP, disagreed with him saying that the industry is being vilified because of a few incidents.
Now, BJP MP and actress Hema Malini has come out in support of Bachchan. Interestingly, she has disagreed with the MP of her own party Ravi Kishan.
Speaking to the channel NDTV, Malini said, “A lot of talk is going on in Bollywood [commercial Hindi cinema] and it’s trying to ridicule the industry in such a manner that people are worried that is Bollywood like this? But I want to tell people [that] Bollywood is a beautiful place. It’s a creative world. This is an art and culture industry. People have made a name for themselves in this industry by last so many decades.”
She spoke about her own career, adding, “I have been in the industry for so many years. I have earned name, fame, popularity, respect, everything from the industry. I have great respect for this industry.”
Responding to Kishan’s claims without naming him, she said, “I feel very hurt when I hear people talking so bad about it and say things like that. Where it [drug menace] doesn’t happen? If on a cloth there is a stain, if you wash it, it will go away. Likewise, whatever stain is there on Bollywood will go away. I agree with what Jaya Bachchan has said today. They can’t ridicule our industry in such a way.”
The veteran actress added that the Hindi film industry has national and international importance. “Bollywood is a symbol of anything India. Without Bollywood, there is no India. Wherever you go outside India, people are crazy about our industry. So when people talk bad about it, I can’t take it,” she said.
The debate on the drug menace in the Hindi film industry started with the drug angle in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and the arrest of his girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, for possession of drugs.