Shah Rukh Khan calls for positivity amid Boycott ‘Pathaan’ trend on social media

Days after Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra objected to the 'Pathaan' song Besharam Rang for its green and saffron costumes worn by Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, the King Khan, on Thursday, sent out a message of positivity at the inauguration of Kolkata International Film Festival 2022.

Without mentioning anything related to Besharam Rang controversy, SRK in his speech said, "Cinema and in fact the advent of articulation through social media platforms have now become foremost expression of human experience and emotion. The collective narrative of times is shaped by social media and contrary to the belief that spread of social media will affect cinema negatively."

He added, "I believe cinema has more important role to play now. Social media is often driven by a certain narrowness of view that limits human nature...I read somewhere negativity increases social media consumption and thereby increases its commercial value as well...Such pursuits enclose collective narrative making it divisive and destructive."

"Cinema exposes the vulnerability of human nature by telling stories in the simplest form as they are lived. It allows us to know each other better in a way it is best placed to sustain a collective counter-narrative that speaks to the larger nature of humankind," SRK continued.

After concluding his speech, Shah Rukh tweaked his Pathaan dialogue in order to urge people to focus on positivity.

"We haven't been able to meet for a while, but the world is becoming normal now. We are all happy and I am the happiest. And I have no qualms in saying, that no matter what the world does, me and you, and all positive people in the world are ALIVE," SRK said.

'Besharam Rang' was dropped online on 12 December, and soon it became the talk of the town. While several liked the peppy track, there're also who found 'Besharam Rang' objectionable over the use of saffron and green costumes. A slew of activists in Indore even staged a protest against Pathaan and Besharam Rang song and set effigies of Deepika and Shah Rukh on fire.