Bollywood’s Katrina Kaif defends Rohit Shetty after ‘sexist’ comment

‘Sooryavanshi’ director Rohit Shetty has drawn heavy criticism after a recent comment that many termed as ‘sexist’ and ‘mysoginist’ on social media.

Shetty came under fire for saying that his upcoming film is packed with such high-voltage action by leading men Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, and Ranveer Singh that no one would even look at his film’s heroine Katrina Kaif.

While Shetty’s comment sparked a storm on social media and the hashtag #ShameOnYouRohitShetty started trending on Twitter, Kaif finally came to his defense on March 9, posting on Instagram that Shetty had been misunderstood.

“Dear Friends and Well-wishers… I normally do not comment on media reports or articles… But in this case, I feel a comment made by Rohit Sir has been taken out of context and is been entirely misunderstood. I am referring to the comment as reported that Rohit Shetty said, ‘No one would look at me in the frame, as there are three boys there and a blast happening”’, this is not what was said,” Kaif’s statement read.

“I mentioned that I had blinked in the shot, and Rohit sir said, ‘there are four people together in the frame and a bomb blast happening, no one will notice you BLINKING.’ Even, inspite of that, we still did one more take. I share a very warm equation and friendship with Rohit sir and have always enjoyed our discussions on everything from cinema to my character and, more importantly, he has always been there as a friend for me. This has been taken entirely taken out of context. Hope you all have a great day,” Kaif added.

However, the statement did little to assuage fans on social media.

“Rohit Shetty is the classic example of a sexist mysoginist man who would never let a woman succeed even when she wants to do better at work. She’s [Kaif] the most hardworking self made women in the industry and deserves utmost respect,” tweeted Sailee Dhokale.

GML tweeted: “Extremely sexist remark, not acceptable! We talk about empowering our women and equality and this is what a top bollywood director says, shows his sick mentality and arrogance.”

Desi Boy tweeted: “@iamrohitshetty has some serious misconceptions. Your movie doesn’t work for you, it works because of great actors. Get a life, learn to respect @KatrinaKaif_ and women around the world.”

‘Sooryavanshi’ is a cop drama, part of Shetty’s police trilogy. It is set to release globally on March 24.