The ban on Pakistani artistes following the Uri attack has evoked mixed responses from people in India.
However, veteran actor Om Puri was at the receiving end of hatred and trolled on Twitter when he ended up insulting Indian martyrs while defending why art and such issues shouldn’t be mixed.
Puri said Pakistani artistes are not working illegally here and if they are sent back, Indian producers, who have signed them for their films, will suffer heavy losses. “When the government is taking an action, we all should stay quiet. It hardly matters if we send back the artists from Pakistan, who are working here, or let them stay. I have been to Pakistan six times and have met people from all strata,” the 65-year-old actor said.
During a debate on a television channel, Puri referring to Indian soldiers, aggressively said, “We haven’t forced them to join army.” He further said, “Prepare 15-20 people as suicide bomber and send them to Pakistan.”
As soon as he said this, he was slammed on social media including Facebook and Twitter.
Twitter user @2806anu said, “People like Om Puri made me realize the number of abusive words/phrases I know. Shame on you. Seriously boycott such people & their “art'.”
Another Twitter user said, “Om Puri ji comment about our jawans is really showing their mentality. How can they forget due to them we feel safe in our homes.”
An angry @ukshahi on Twitter, wrote, “This filthy anti-national promiscuous scum Om Puri deserves a hard stinging slap on his face if not more.”
Another went on to write, “OM PURI is such a SHAMELESS PIG that in order to support idiot Salman khan, he literally insulted indian army.. how can someone go so low.”
The debate began after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena demanded the ouster of the artistes from the neighbouring country. Recently, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association also announced ban on the actors and technicians from the neighbouring country till things don't get normal between the two nations.
