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Bollywood: Hansal Mehta gave his support to stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra amid a row. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Hansal expressed his views on the vandalism of the venue in Mumbai where Kunal had performed. The controversy got triggered after Kunal passed remarks in a funny way on the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in his latest standup act.
Hansal shared how he got assaulted because of bad politics and was forced to apologize after the release of his 2000 film Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar. He recalled his office was brutally vandalized by the political party Shiva Sena (then undivided), and he had to face all these losses over a line in the film.
He said, "What happened with Kamra is, sadly, not new to Maharashtra. I’ve lived through it myself. Twenty-five years ago, loyalists of the same (then undivided) political party stormed into my office. They vandalized it, physically assaulted me, blackened my face, and forced me to apologize publicly—by falling at the feet of an elderly woman—for a single line of dialogue in my film."
Take a look at Hansal Mehta's Tweet For Kunal Kamra:-
What happened with Kamra is, sadly, not new to Maharashtra. I’ve lived through it myself.
— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) March 24, 2025
Twenty-five years ago, loyalists of the same (then undivided) political party stormed into my office. They vandalised it, physically assaulted me, blackened my face, and forced me to…
The filmmaker recalled he had to face the huge humiliation while the Mumbai police watched everything in silence. "The line was harmless, almost trivial. The film had already been cleared by the Censor Board with 27 other cuts. But that didn’t matter. At the so-called 'apology' venue, at least 20 political figures arrived in full strength to oversee what can only be described as a public shaming—with 10,000 onlookers and the Mumbai Police watching in silence," he said
Hansal said the incident hurt him tremendously and added that whatever the situation, "humiliation can never be justified". “That incident didn’t just bruise my body. It bruised my spirit. It blunted my filmmaking, muted my courage, and silenced parts of me that took years to reclaim,” he wrote.
"No matter how deep the disagreement, no matter how sharp the provocation—violence, intimidation, and humiliation can never be justified. We owe ourselves, and each other, better. We owe ourselves dialogue, dissent, and dignity," concluded his note.
Kunal has released a statement on his official social media handle that he would not "apologize" for his act. He stated that the entertainment venue is merely a platform and is not "responsible" for his comedy.