On Six February, India lost one of the most prominent singers in the country, Late Lata Mangeshkar. The Bharat Ratna of India had sung many memorable songs and had won three National awards in her name. Popularly referred to as “Lata di,” she had the longest-running career as a professional in the music industry. She voiced songs of different emotions and 36 languages.
She was hospitalized for 28 days post-COVID-19″ at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. Multiple organ failure took her life Doctor Pratit Samdani who was treating her, also said that she had a smile on her face during the last moment.
The late singer’s last rites were performed in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Maharashtra MR. Uddhav Thackeray and various chief ministers and cabinet ministers were present during the event. Sachin Tendulkar, Aamir Khan, Javed Akhtar were among other celebrities who attended the funeral.
However, when Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan paid his tribute to the singer, what grabbed everyone’s attention. The actor went on stage with his manager Pooja Dadlani; they started praying and reciting verses.
The actor removed the mask and made a facial gesture that grabbed everyone’s attention. Since the event was live and broadcasted across different News Channels, the pictures of Shahrukh khan’s way of paying the tribute went viral.
The controversy started when Arun Yadav, the state-in-charge of Haryana’s BJP IT Cell, referring to Shahrukh Khan’s clip, tweeted, “Kya isne thuka hai” (did he spit?).
The tweet triggered massive controversy amongst netizens, and the Twitter users were divided into two different opinions. People started backlashing the tweet; few chose to explain that it’s a ritual to blow in the wind to ward off the evil, and few trolled the actor. The actor’s name was trending on Twitter with the #Shahrukhkhan
Sanjay Raut, MP of Rajya Sabha, slammed trolls who accused the actor of ‘spitting’ on the mortal remains of the singer.
He said, “It is shameful the way people are trolling him (Shahrukh Khan). Some people are doing politics in the name of religion, even on the sad occurrence of Lata Ji’s demise. We all know who these people are. Nobody needs to be told”.
Actress Urmila Matondkar in an interview with a regional channel, said the politics had reached such low levels, and it’s sad. She told how SRK had represented the country on international Platforms.
According to many religious scholars and Netizens who supported the actor, the Blowing of wind after prayer is an Islamic ritual. Users on Twitter who favored the actor shared a scene from the film My Name is Khan starring Shahrukh khan where the actor is seen offering Namaaz and blowing air over his young boy in the movie.
A few months ago, the actor was in controversy when his son Aryan Khan was caught in a cruise drug raid case in Mumbai.
The last film of SRK titled ‘Zero‘ was released almost four years ago; fans are excited for his upcoming film Pathaan starring Deepika Padukone, John Abraham directed by Siddhart Anand.
Publisher – Kiran Maharana
Editor – Subbuthai Padma
