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After Sonakshi Sinha, her father and actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha has given a befitting reply to Mukesh Khanna for questioning her upbringing. In a recent interview, Mukesh had expressed his disappointment over Sonakshi not being able to answer a question about Lord Hanuman in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) in 2019. After his video went viral, Sonakshi slammed him in an open letter on social media. And now, her father Shatrughan has also broken his silence on the matter.
Reacting to Mukesh’s statements, Shatrughan told Bollywood Hungama, “I believe someone has a problem with Sonakshi not answering a question on the Ramayan. Firstly what qualifies this person to be an expert on all things to do with the Ramayan? And who has appointed him the guardian of the Hindu religion?”
Defending his daughter Sonakshi, the actor said that not answering a question about Ramayana doesn’t make her a bad Hindu. “I am very proud of all my three children. Sonakshi became a star on her own. I never had to launch her career. She is a daughter any father would be proud to have. Not answering a question on the Ramayan doesn’t disqualify Sonakshi from being a good Hindu. She doesn’t need a certificate of approval from anyone.”
Reacting to Mukesh Khanna’s comments, Sonakshi Sinha had shared a note on social media, defending her father Shatrughan Sinha. She wrote, “Dear Sir, Mukesh Khanna ji… I recently read a statement you made saying that it’s my father’s fault I did not correctly answer a question about the Ramayana on a show I attended many years back. Firstly let me remind you there were two women on the hot seat that day who did not know the answer to the same question, but you chose to keep taking my name, and only my name, for reasons which are quite obvious.”
The note further read, “Yes, I may have blanked out that day, a human tendency, and forgotten who the Sanjeevani Booti was brought for, but clearly, you have also forgotten some of the lessons of forgive and forget taught by lord Ram himself. If lord Ram can forgive Manthara, if he can forgive Kaikeyi, if he can even forgive Ravan after the great battle was done, surely you can let go of this extremely small thing in comparison. Not that I need your forgiveness. But yes, I definitely need you to forget and stop bringing up the same incident time and again to be back in the news at the expense of me and my family.”
“And lastly, the next time you decide to say anything about the values my father has instilled in me, please remember it’s because of those values that I have only said what I said, very respectfully, after you decided to make some distasteful statements about my upbringing. I wish you well, thanks and regards,” Sonakshi wrote in conclusion.
In an interview with News9, Mukesh Khanna also responded to Sonakshi Sinha’s note and said, “I am surprised she took so much time to react. I knew I was antagonising her by taking her name from that incident in the famous Kaun Banega Crorepati show. But I had no malicious intention to malign her or her father who is my senior and I have a very cordial relationship with him.”
He added, “My intention was to react on today’s generation, which is called ‘Genz’ by elders, which has become slaves to today’s Google world and mobile phones. Their knowledge is limited to Wikipedia and social interactions on You tube. And here I had a Hi-Fi case in front of me of her which I could use to teach others. Fathers, sons, daughters.”
For the unversed, in a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan, the Shaktimaan actor had said, “People were angry that Sonakshi didn’t know this, but I would say it’s not her fault—it’s her father’s fault. Why didn’t they teach their children this? Why did they become so modern? If I were Shaktimaan today, I would make kids sit down and teach them about Indian culture and Sanatan Dharma.”
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