Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, while attending the Kolkata Film Festival 2022 (KIFF) on Thursday spoke about the negativity that exists on social media. During his speech at the inauguration of the festival, Shah Rukh Khan addressed the ‘narrowness of view’ on social media and even challenged those with a negative mindset. The actor is waiting for the release of his upcoming film Pathaan that has been facing boycott calls on Twitter. 

Without mentioning Pathaan, Shah Rukh Khan 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 its 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.”

The grand film festival was inaugurated in the presence of West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee as well as several Bollywood actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, and Rani Mukerji. Shah Rukh delivered a speech on the occasion, parts of which were shared online by the actor’s fan clubs.

Here’s what Shah Rukh Khan said:

The Zero actor further said that cinema can act as the counter-narrative to the negativity on social media and spread compassion in turn. “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 human kind–a narrative that brings to the fore humanity’s immense capacity for compassion, unity, and brotherhood,” he said during his speech.

While concluding his speech, Shah Rukh Khan spoke in Hindi and said, “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).”

Watch his speech here:

Directed by Siddharth Anand, Pathaan is a spy thriller that also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. 

What’s the controversy all about:

The controversy started when Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone released their first song Besharam Rang three days ago. Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra said the song was objectionable and raised concerns about the costumes, saying that unless it was changed, Pathaan may not be released in the state. Since then, the hashtag #BoycottPathaan has been trending on Twitter. The film is set to be released in theatres on January 25, 2023.