Nitish Bhardwaj schools Mukesh Khanna for jibe at Sonakshi Sinha: ‘It’s not this generation’s fault’
Actor Nitish Bhardwaj says Mukesh Khanna should have restrained himself while talking about a lack of knowledge of Indian heritage among the new generation, adding ‘Why target Sonakshi alone?’
Actor Nitish Bhardwaj has responded to co-star Mukesh Khanna’s jibe on Sonakshi Sinha and her knowledge of Indian mythology and said “seniors seem worthy of respect if they walk the path of empathy”, adding that the same thing could have been said in a balanced and soft manner. While Mukesh played Bhishma Pitamah in BR Chopra’s Mahabharat, Nitish essayed the role of Krishna in the 90s popular serial that is now being rerun on Doordarshan amid lockdown in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
Talking to Times of India in an interview, Nitish said, “Why target Sonakshi alone? There’s always a better way to say the same thing. A balanced, soft and empathetic way; and it is received better too. Seniors seem worthy of respect if they walk the path of empathy.”
He also said there is a reason behind the an entire generation has little knowledge of India’s heritage, culture and literature. “I would like to tell my friend Mukesh Khanna that there may be a whole new generation which doesn’t know details of Indian heritage and its literature. It is not their fault. There was a sea change in India’s economic environment after 1992 that everyone started running the rat race, trying to make their careers and prosper financially.”
Adding that the fault lies with the parents and not the children, Nitish told the daily, “If at all we need to fault someone, which I don’t think is the answer, then it is the previous generation parents, who failed to expose their children to our heritage and literature. It is also due to our myopic educational system, implemented by the British during the Raj, which leaves no room for cultural and value-based education to be a part of our regular curriculum. The pressure on parents to put their children in after-school tuitions is so high that this additional spare time cannot be devoted to imparting religious values and texts to the children. Failure to change or modify this educational system has been the failure of most governments post 1947. Any effort made to the contrary is labelled as ‘religious fanaticism’. So there are many system related faults which have resulted in this syndrome,” he told the daily.”
Mukesh had said recently in an interview, “I think the reruns will be useful to many who haven’t watched the show earlier. It will also help people like Sonakshi Sinha who have no knowledge about our mythological sagas. People like her don’t know who did lord Hunuman get Sanjivani for.” Sonakshi attracted the comment as she had landed in controversy post her appearance on Amitabh Bachchan’s game show Kaun Banega Crorepati last year.
After failing to answer the question “For whom did Hanuman bring Sanjeevani booti,” she used one of her lifelines to choose between four options - Sugriva, Lakshmana, Sita and Rama. While she was heavily trolled online, even Amitabh could not help but school her.
“Aapke pitaji ka naam hai Shatrughan, aap jis ghar me rehti hain, uska naam hai Ramayana.Aapke jitne chacha hain, wo sab Ramayan se sambandhit hain, Aapko ye nahi pata ki Lakshman ke liye laaye they jadibooti? (Your father and uncles names are derived from Ramayan, you live in a house called Ramayana. How do you not know for whom did Hanuman bring Jadibooti?),” Amitabh had told her and Sonakshi responded with, “Mujhe laga tha, lekin mai inke liye bahut nervous thi to chance nahi lena chahti thi (I thought it should be Lakshman but did not want to take any chance).” Sonakshi’s mother Poonam Sinha laughed through the entire discussion as she sat among the audience.
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