Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has reacted strongly to an FIR that has been registered against 14 people involved in the controversial comedy show, AIB Roast. While the report mentions Bhatt’s daughter Alia Bhatt among others, it does not name Sonakshi Sinha, the daughter of BJP MP, actor Shatrughan Sinha. Both Alia and Sonakshi were part of the audience.
“I am not talking about the content that was shown on YouTube. Whether it is vulgar or not is something that the judiciary will decide. I am asking a simple question: If you are saying that people (in the audience) laughed during the show, and that’s a crime, then why wasn’t the entire audience of 4,000 people named in this FIR? And if you are saying that you’ll name only those celebrities who were laughing at the jokes, then why wasn’t Sonakshi Sinha’s name mentioned in the FIR?” asked Bhatt.
“Certain forces are at play that are leading to these events. Everyone can see it,” he said, hinting at a possible intervention from Sonakshi’s father.
Not wishing to take Bhatt’s comments lightly, Sonakshi, in a series of tweets, insisted that her father played no role in the matter. “Dear Mr Mahesh Bhatt, a couple of pointless FIR’s have been filed before this (delhi and kol if im not mistaken), in which my name was Mentioned and Alia’s wasn’t. I don’t remember my father questioning them as to how or why so (sic),” she wrote.
“I do agree with u however, if these FIR’s Are filed on 2-3 members of the audience, why not the other 3,998. Let’s not give these ppl the attention they so desperately seek, And as far as my memory serves me, nobody EVER went to jail for laughing (sic),” she added. A series of AIB Roast videos, featuring Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor with Karan Johar, was uploaded on YouTube in January. It was later pulled down when several organisations filed FIRs citing obscenity.