Shah Rukh Khan on Thursday visited Kolkatta to attend the opening ceremony of the Kolkatta Film Festival. In his speech, Shah Rukh Khan addressed the negativity on social media amid the ongoing protests against his highly awaited film Pathaan.

Shah Rukh Khan
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The film has been receiving boycott calls since the first sing 'Besharam Rang' was released. Veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, and actor Rani Mukherji attended the inaugural program of the 28th International Kolkata Film Festival in Kolkata with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and former India Cricket captain Sourav Ganguly.

Shah Rukh said, "The collective narratives of our times are shaped by social media. Contrary to the belief that the spread of social media will affect cinema negatively, I believe cinema has an even more important role to play now. Social media is often driven by a certain narrowness of view that limits human nature to its baser self. And it is somewhere that negativity increases social media consumption and thereby increases its commercial value as well. Such pursuits enclose the collective narrative making it divisive and destructive."

"Cinema exposes the vulnerability of human nature by telling stories in their simplest form as they are lived. It allows us to know each other better. In a way, it is best placed to sustain a collective counter-narrative that speaks to the larger nature of humankind--a narrative that brings to the fore humanity's immense capacity for compassion, unity, and brotherhood," he said during his speech.

"The world has become normal. We are all happy, I am the happiest. And I have no objection in stating that duniya kuch bhi kar le, main aur aap log aur jitney bhi positive log hain sab ke sab, zinda hain (me, you all and all the positive people are alive)," he concluded. His speech garnered applause from the audience in the end.

For those unaware, on Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister said the costumes seen in the 'Besharam' song from 'Pathaan' are "highly objectionable" and it is clearly visible that the song was filmed out of a "contaminated mentality."

The minister, talking to the media, said, "The costumes in the song at first glance are objectionable. It is clearly visible that the song of the film Pathaan has been shot with a dirty mindset. I don't think this is right, and I will tell the director and makers of the film to fix it."

Pathaan marks Shah Rukh Khan's return to the big screen in over four years. The action thriller also stars John Abraham and is directed by Siddharth Aanand. The film is slated to release in theatres on January 25, 2023. It will be released in Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions apart from Hindi.

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