Javed Akhtar & Shekhar Kapur Spark Debate On Refugee. Twitter Is Divided On The Matter

The war of letters has started recently with 49 intellectuals writing to PM Modi for stopping the mob lynching incidents. Not only this, they also wrote that the religious phrase “Jai Shri Ram” has become a war cry. In reaction, another group of 61 eminent personalities wrote an open letter and slammed these 49 people for selective outrage.

However, the micro-blogging site Twitter also felt the heat and Bollywood filmmaker Shekhar Kapur decided to express his views after 49 personalities wrote the letter.

Shekhar Kapur said that he started his life as a refugee after partition. He also stated that his parents gave him everything to make his life but he always lived in the fear of intellectuals. First they made him feel small but embraced him after his movies. He still fears them as their embrace is like a snake bite and even now he feels like a refugee.

This is what Shekhar Kapur wrote on Twitter, “Started life as refugee of Partition. Parents gave everything to make a life for kids. Was always in fear of ‘intellectuals’. They made me feel insignificant. Small. Then suddenly embraced me after my films. I still fear them. Their embrace is like a bite of snake. Still a refugee.”

Another Bollywood celeb, lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar slammed Shekhar Kapur in a series of tweets for calling himself a refugee and asked him to cut this melodrama. He also asked him as to where else he will not feel like a refugee if he thinks of himself as an outsider and refugee in India.

Javed Akhtar wrote, “What do you mean by still a refugee? Does it mean that you feel like an outsider n not an Indian n you don’t feel that this is your motherland? If in India you are still a refugee, where will you not feel like a refugee, in Pakistan? Cut this melodrama you poor rich but lonely guy”.

Javed also asked him as to who those intellectuals are who embrace him and he found their embrace as snake bite. He also advised Kapur to see a psychiatrist.

His second tweet read, “Who are these intellectuals who embraced you and you found that embrace like a snake’s bite ? Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopal Krishna, Ram Chandra Guha? Really? Shekhar saheb you are not well. You need help. Come on, there is no shame in meeting a good psychiatrist.”

In the third tweet, Javed talked about the contradiction in Shekhar’s statement.

He wrote, “You introduce yourself as neither prejudiced by the past nor afraid of the future living in this moment and in the same breath you say you are a refugee of partition and still a refugee. One doesn’t need a magnifying glass to see the contradiction.”

Shekhar Kapur responded on one of the tweets of Akhtar but he didn’t choose to explain what he meant. Kapur tweeted, “No. It means once you are a refugee, you feel a gypsy.”

Now, Twitterati is divided into two parts as some are slamming Shekhar Kapur for targeting those who are raising their voices against the injustice taking place while some slammed Javed Akhtar for not letting Shekhar Kapur express his opinion and trying to make him prove him wrong.

Here are the tweets thrashing Shekhar Kapur for his refugee remark:

#1

#2

#3

https://twitter.com/shuvankr/status/1155650661758824448

#4

https://twitter.com/intellectroll/status/1155707114020642821

#5

#6

https://twitter.com/PallaviSharmars/status/1155158767790522369

#7

https://twitter.com/collegeblues/status/1155685549379710976

While some slammed Javed Akhtar for unnecessarily criticising Shekhar Kapur for expressing his opinion:

#1

#2

https://twitter.com/ShuchiPavak/status/1155513032526553092

#3

https://twitter.com/akupadhyay83/status/1155475800327483395

#4

#5

What is your take in this regard? Let us know your views.