Abhay Deol is not surprised by Pathaan controversy: ‘If you want to make an issue of something, you can easily do it’

Actor Abhay Deol, who is known to speak his mind on various issues concerning the Hindi film industry, has reacted to the controversy surrounding Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film Pathaan. The actor said that the controversy is not something unimaginable and can happen easily.
For the unversed, a few right-wing groups have raised objection to the Pathaan song “Besharam Rang”. They have called for a boycott of the film owing to the colour of the bikini worn by Deepika Padukone in the song. In an interview with India Today, Abhay expressed his thoughts.
The actor said, “It is not something unimaginable. If you look at the world today, it is polarised. If you want to make an issue of something, you can easily do it. It is possible. Many people have done it before and will continue to.”
The cancel culture on social media has become a common phenomenon. With trends such as Boycott Bollywood becoming an everyday affair on social media, Abhay Deol feels that we are living in a polarized world.
“We do live in a polarised world. I think social media and technology have made information so fast, and it is also disinformation at so many levels. There is this tendency to reduce things to a headline. There is inconsistency everywhere, whether it be the media or people consuming that media. It is a volatile space, and that is an interesting subject, but do I believe in bans and cancel culture? It is more nuanced than that. I think banning doesn’t necessarily make it go away. It (the subject) goes underground,” he said.