Media reports are “joke”, says Indian star
BOLLYWOOD actor Amitabh Bachchan has denied criticising Slumdog Millionaire, accusing the media of distorting the truth.
Mr Bachchan said comments criticising the films portrayal of India as a “third world dirty under belly developing nation” were posted by someone else and that he had merely included them into his blog to create debate about the film.
He said there was no evidence the comments about the award-winning film were his, and accused the media of distorting his words because he was a celebrity.
“What a colossal joke this is all turning out to be. Without reading the text of my blog or the purpose behind mention of ‘Slumdog’ an entire machinery of abuse has been directed towards me”, Mr Bachchan wrote on his blog.
“Fact is some one mentioned the film on my blog. Some expressed opinion for it, some against. And yes they contained some strong assumptions. I merely put both of them up and invited debate. I have done this many times on several issues and there has been great involvement.
“All the expressions that have been attributed to me are in fact the expressions of others or perceived impressions of others. Where is the indication that this impression is concretely mine? There is none! And now after having castigated me for something not attributable to me, it has made my real opinion on the film after seeing it, impossible. If I do not like it there will be greater abuse. If I like it, there will be abuse.”
Directed by Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire has received widespread acclaim and last week picked up four coveted Golden Globe Awards.
It was also nominated for 11 Bafta awards yesterday and is also being widely tipped to land an Oscar nomination later this month.
The film will be released in India next week.
