Filmmaker Hansal Mehta took to X recently to give his two cents on the comedian Kunal Kamra fiasco. He also spoke about how he has also been through a similar situation when “loyalists of the same (then undivided) political party” stormed into his office, vandalized it and forced him to apologise for a dialogue in his 2000 film Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar!!.
The Shahid (2012) director then went on to write that the incident didn’t only bruise his body but also his spirit. “It blunted my filmmaking, muted my courage, and silenced parts of me that took years to reclaim,” he wrote.
“What happened with Kamra is, sadly, not new to Maharashtra. I’ve lived through it myself,” Hansal wrote on X.
“Twenty-five years ago, loyalists of the same (then undivided) political party stormed into my office. They vandalised it, physically assaulted me, blackened my face, and forced me to apologise publicly—by falling at the feet of an elderly woman—for a single line of dialogue in my film,” he added.
Hansal went on to say that the dialogue was harmless. “The film had already been cleared by the Censor Board with 27 other cuts. But that didn’t matter. At the so-called “apology” venue, at least 20 political figures arrived in full strength to oversee what can only be described as a public shaming—with 10,000 onlookers and the Mumbai Police watching in silence,” he wrote.
The director then went on to state that it is important to have “dialogue, dissent and dignity.” “No matter how deep the disagreement, no matter how sharp the provocation—violence, intimidation, and humiliation can never be justified. We owe ourselves, and each other, better,” he concluded the post.
Kunal Kamra has been under the line of fire after he took a dig at Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde at a comedy show. What followed was a political fiasco as many Shiv Sena leaders, including CM Devendra Fadnavis, condemned Kunal’s comments. Eknath loyalists also demolished The Habitat cultural space in Mumbai’s Khar where Kunal had performed his comedy special.
