Author and former Bollywood actor Twinkle Khanna is being criticised on social media for making a tongue-in-cheek remark about the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ in her Sunday column for a leading daily.
In her satirical column published on April 3 with the headline ‘Did Will Smith learn one-tight-slap lesson from India?’ on the shocking turn of events at the 2022 Oscars ceremony, Khanna also wrote about how she was planning to register ‘Nail Files’, a title inspired by Vivek Agnihotri’s recently released film based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s.
Under her nom de plume ‘Mrs Funnybones’, Khanna wrote that the potential film ‘Nail Files’ may revolve around a “disastrous manicure”, which she said would be “better than putting the final nail into the communal coffin”, PTI reported from Mumbai.
The film has been called out for its problematic politics by some critics and authors but that has not affected its box office collection as the movie, released on March 11, has minted Rs 331 crore, according to the figures given by the producers in a tweet.
The 47-year-old Khanna, who is the daughter of prolific Hindi cinema stars Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, was called out on social media by users who described her as a “shallow” Bollywood personality “devoid of morals”.
Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, a Kashmiri Pandit, appealed to the columnist to not be insensitive towards the plight of the community.
Commenting on her column, Pandit tweeted Monday evening, “@mrsfunnybones ma’am, you are too late. This film (#KashmirFiles) on the genocide of #KashmiriPandits has already hit the nail on the communal coffin of #IslamicTerrorism. Request you not be so insensitive towards the genocide of 7 lac #KashmiriPandits.”
Another user wrote, “She does seem daft and insensitive to say this. All the Bollywood fraternity are shallow and devoid of morals.”
Khanna’s comments come weeks after her husband and Bollywood star Akshay Kumar congratulated ‘The Kashmir Files’ director on the success of the film, also quipping how it affected the box office business of his film ‘Bachchhan Paandey’, which released on March 18.
Kumar, known for his pro-establishment stand as opposed to his wife’s, had last month at an event said Agnihotri has brought a “harrowing truth to light” through his film.
Khanna has been away from social media since Sunday after she shared the link to her column and retweeted it on her Twitter page.