Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has come out in defense of rival Salman Khan and fellow actors who performed at UP government's Saifai event.
Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Alia Bhatt and other Bollywood actors performed at UP's posh political do, which has been slammed for its unnecessarily lavish expenditure while the conditions of the state's riot-hit victims were ignored.
Speaking to the media, Shahrukh said it is unfair to target actors without having the actual idea of their motive. "I'll just say two things about this. One, I will not take a moral high ground and comment on the reasons of my colleagues working or taking on a job. I think it extremely unfair. We don't know the details as to why they have taken it or why they have done it, should they have done it."
"I can't take a moral high ground, I'm a performer myself. At times I've gone ahead and performed not even realising that there are issues surrounding the area I'm performing in," he added.
Faced with criticism, the "Dabangg" actor too issued a statement stating that his visit to UP was also an extension of his philanthropic activities.
"Whenever I visit a place for a performance or a promotion, I see it as an opportunity to help the locals in the areas of healthcare or education...And in Etawah, Being Human, on behalf of all artists who performed yesterday, has committed to fund 200 paediatric heart surgeries in UP (there is already a wait list of 81 children we have received who are being moved to Fortis Hospital Gurgaon and their surgeries will get done by month end and Being Human is in touch with local NGOs and hospitals for their lists also)" Salman said in a Facebook post.
Madhuri Dixit, who was present at the UP event, took to Twitter to talk about it. "As artists and celebrities, we believe in using our reach to help others through drawing attention to the needs of the day. For UP, on behalf of the artists who performed at Safai, Being Human is donating Rs. 25 lakhs to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College."
