Kangana Ranaut mistakes spoof video for actual interview, calls Qatar Airways CEO ‘idiot of a man’

Padma Shree awardee Kangana Ranaut made a faux pas on social media on Wednesday. She fell for a spoof video and called Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker an “idiot of a man” on her Instagram stories for “bullying” Vashudev, a Twitter user. She later deleted the posts.

The spoof clip was made in response to a video Vashudev had put up on Twitter, in which he is asking people to boycott Qatar’s products as the country has started “firing Indians from jobs” there. “This is the same Qatar which gave shelter and citizenship to M.F. Hussain after he made nude paintings of goddess Sita and Durga. Today, the country is preaching India on Nupur Sharma’s remarks. I urge everybody to boycott Qatar’s products like Qatar Airlines,” he said in the video with the hashtag BycottQatarAirways.

The video was made in the backdrop of the massive diplomatic blowback India received after its former spokesperson Nupur Sharma and former media head Naveen Kumar Jindal made comments against Prophet Muhammad. 

After Vashudev’s clip, the hashtag with the wrong spelling of “boycott” started trending on Twitter. A spoof video was also made which shows the Qatar Airways CEO giving an interview to Al-Jazeera in response to Vashudev’s comments. Laced with sarcastic remarks, the dubbed video shows Akbar Al Baker asking the Twitter user to call of his boycott.

“Vashudev is our biggest shareholder with a total investment of Rs 624.50. We don't know how to operate anymore. We have grounded all flights. Our operations are not running anymore...," the Qatar Airways Chief seems to be saying in the doctored video.

Falling for the parody video, Kangana expressed her ire on Instagram. She posted pics from the video clip and wrote, “All so-called Indians who are cheering this bully for making fun of a poor man remember this is exactly why you all are a big bojh (burden) on this overpopulated country.”

"This idiot of a man has no shame bullying a poor man, mocking his insignificance and place in the world...” she added. “Vasudev may be poor and insignificant for a rich man like you but he has the right to express his grief, pain and disappointment in whatever context it may be... remember there is a world beyond this world where we all are equal...," she followed up in the next story. Kangana, probably realised her goof-up later as she deleted the posts.

In previous posts Kangana had backed Nupur for her comments against Prophet Muhammad saying that she is “entitled to her opinions.” 

The BJP has been in firefighting mode recently after protests erupted in Middle-East countries over the remarks. It also issued a new set of rules for spokespersons for making religious comments and has mobilised its foreign affairs machinery to allay the situation.