Tamil actor Siddharth slams Nawazuddin Siddiqui's Thackeray for insulting South Indian immigrants in Mumbai

A day after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) issued objections against three scenes in Thackeray — an upcoming biopic on Shiv Sena supremo Bal Keshav Thackeray — Tamil actor Siddharth has slammed the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer film for insulting the South Indian community living in Mumbai.

Deeming the film’s dialogues as hate speech, the Rang De Basanti actor tweeted,

In a later tweet, Siddarth shared the Marathi version of the trailer and wrote,

Of the three cuts demanded by CBFC in Thackeray, two are dialogues pertaining to the Babri Mosque demolition and the agitation against South Indian immigrants in Mumbai. However, the film’s writer-producer and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has said they will protest the censor dictates and won't alter their portrayal of Bal Thackeray in the film.

“We have projected Balasaheb exactly the way he lived his life, the way he expressed his opinions on his people and political situations. We did not fictionalise anything. Abhijit Panse, the director, has projected everything in a real manner," Raut said at the film's trailer launch on Wednesday.

Thackeray also stars Amrita Rao as Meena Tai Thackeray and Rajesh Khera as former Prime Minister Moraji Desai. The film is scheduled to release on January 25, 2019.