JAIPUR: In recent months, actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan have landed in controversy for speaking up against the “growing intolerance” in the country.
Choosing to play down the intolerance debate in India, actor Kajol on Saturday said there are no such dividing lines in Bollywood.
“Our industry will always keep reflecting on what is happening in our society. It will keep on going and everyone is welcome. There are no dividing lines, no caste, no creed and no intolerance in Bollywood,” she said on the third day of the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival. Filmmaker Karan Johar, a close friend of Ms. Kajol, had kicked up a storm with his remarks about freedom of expression being the biggest joke in the country on the inaugural day of the festival. In recent months, actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan have landed in controversy for speaking up against the “growing intolerance” in the country. Ms. Kajol, who has worked with both Shah Rukh and Aamir, refused to react to the backlash faced by the PK star, whose controversial remarks had evoked criticism from many quarters. “These days, people seem to have become oversensitive. As public personalities it is our duty to speak well and correctly. I have always said my ‘Mann ki baat’ and it is no different now,” she said. A voracious reader, Ms. Kajol, who was at the JLF to launch author Ashwin Sanghi’s new book, The Sialkot Saga, said she agreed to marry Ajay Devgn because he promised her a library similar to the one in the Hollywood film Beauty and the Beast. “I told my husband that I’ll marry you only if you give me the Beauty and the Beast library. That was our love deal,” she said at the cover launch of Mr. Sanghi’s book.–PTI