'Bollywood has shunned me since i started talking against Modi': Prakash Raj

MUMBAI: Bollywood Actor Prakash Raj claims that the Hindi film industry has stopped offering him roles since he started criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The National Award-winning actor said that since October last year, when he first criticised the Prime Minister for his “chilling” silence on the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, the Hindi film industry has sidelined him.

Lankesh was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru by unidentified assailants in September last year. In March, a special investigation team (SIT) of the state police arrested a person allegedly linked with a radical Hindutva outfit in connection with her murder. Investigations are on.

Talking to a leading daily Prakash said;

“There is no problem (with the film industry) in the south, but there has been no offer from the Hindi film industry since I started speaking out,” Raj, a long-time friend of Lankesh, said. However, he says he’s not worried, because he has “enough” (money).

“Gauri’s death disturbed me a lot… She was asking questions. When she was silenced, I felt guilty. Did we leave her alone in her fight? The more I question, the more attempts to silence me, be it (by) character assassination, threat or (by) trying to stop my work… it’s the BJP,” said the 53-year-old actor.

Raj said PM Modi had given hope to the country with his “talk” about creating 2 crore jobs and eradicating black money, among others. “(But after) three and a half years, nothing has been done.

“You haven’t given an account of how much money is back. If I ask questions, I am anti-Hindu. If anybody speaks against them, they say we will send you to Pakistan. Why Pakistan? Because it’s in your brain, your thought process that that religion (Islam) is wrong. Please learn from Pakistan.