Prithviraj Sukumaran on Pathaan’s Besharam Rang row: ‘It’s sad that an artform is subjected to such tests’

Just days after Malayalam superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran shared that he hopes Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan will be the film that once again gets Bollywood back on its feet in terms of massive commercial success, the controversy surrounding the film’s song Besharam Rang had erupted. Several politicians and many online too hinted at a communal angle, taking offence in the colour of the costumes of the actors in the first song from the action-thriller.

A complaint was submitted to a police station in Mumbai over the saffron attire that Deepika had worn in the song and several politicians including Union minister Giriraj Singh had also rallied to boycott the movie. Malayalam actor Prithviraj, who is set for the release of his upcoming movie Kaapa, weighed in on the controversy at a press meet in Kochi on Monday. “It’s sad that an artform has to be put through such observations and points of views as an artiste,” said the actor.

Also read: Prithviraj Sukumaran: Kaapa is a cinematic adaptation of Shankhumukhi, not a line-by-line depiction 

The actor had thrown his weight behind Bollywood to bounce back in 2023, even though the Hindi film industry had only seen a few hits in 2022, which was dominated by South films such as SS Rajamouli’s RRR, Prashanth Neel’s KGF: Chapter 2 and Rishab Shetty’s Kantara.

Prithviraj, who is set to star in two Bollywood films next year including Bade Miyan Chote Miyan with Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff and an untitled movie starring Kajol and Ibrahim Ali Khan, said that there were times not too long ago when industries across India were looking at Bollywood to figure out how they were cracking massive overseas markets.

The actor said that Bollywood’s current slump is just another phase. “There will be one big hit, maybe it’s Pathaan,” he said, adding that the one big movie followed by another could change the whole narrative.

Pathaan is all set to release on January 25, 2023. Shah Rukh Khan in an interactive session with fans on Twitter had said that the film “is also very patriotic… but in an action way”. Apart from Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, the movie also has John Abraham, who plays the antagonist in the Siddharth Anand directorial.