After Boycott Pathaan trends on Twitter, Shah Rukh Khan says 'duniya chahe kuch bhi kar le...'. Watch

In his speech at the Kolkata International Film Festival on Thursday, Shah Rukh Khan addressed the negativity on social media. His film Pathaan is currently facing boycott calls on Twitter.

Shah Rukh Khan made an appearance at the Kolkata International Film Festival 2022 (KIFF) on Thursday evening. During his speech at the inauguration of the festival, the actor spoke about negativity that exists on social media. The timing of the address was interesting as Shah Rukh’s upcoming film Pathaan is currently facing boycott calls on Twitter. Without mentioning Pathaan, Shah Rukh addressed the ‘narrowness of view’ on social media and even challenged those with negative mindset.

Shah Rukh Khan in song Besharam Rang from upcoming film, Pathaan.

The grand film festival was inaugurated in the presence of West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee as well as several Bollywood bigwigs, including Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, and Rani Mukerji. Shah Rukh delivered a speech on the occasion, parts of which were shared online by the actor’s fan clubs.

In his speech at the festival, Shah Rukh touched upon the negativity on social media. “The collective narratives of our times are shaped by social media. Contrary to the belief that the spread of social media will affect cinema negatively, I believe cinema has an even more important role to play now. Social media is often driven by a certain narrowness of view that limits human nature to its baser self. And its somewhere that negativity increases social media consumption and thereby increases its commercial value as well. Such pursuits enclose the collective narrative making it divisive and destructive.”

The actor added cinema can act as the counter-narrative to the negativity on social media and spread compassion in turn. “Cinema exposes the vulnerability of human nature by telling stories in their 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 human kind--a narrative that brings to the fore humanity’s immense capacity for compassion, unity, and brotherhood,” he said during his speech.

While concluding his speech, the actor switched to Hindi and said, “The world has become normal. We are all happy, I am the happiest. And I have no objection in stating that duniya kuch bhi kar le, main aur aap log aur jitney bhi positive log hain sab ke sab, zinda hain (me, you all and all the positive people are alive).” His final ‘zinda hain’, delivered in the style of his character from Pathaan, drew cheers from the large crowd gathered there.

Pathaan, directed by Siddharth Anand, is a spy thriller that also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. The controversy arose after its first song Besharam Rang was released two days ago. Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra said the song was objectionable and raised objections about its costumes, saying that unless it was changed, the film may not be released in the state. Since then, the hashtag #BoycottPathaan has been trending on the microblogging site Twitter. The film is set to be released in theatres on January 25, 2023.