Prasoon Joshi reacts to Jaya Bachchan’s comments on drugs controversy, says Kangana Ranaut shouldn’t be trivialised

Writer and CBFC chairman Prasoon Joshi has commented on the ongoing drugs controversy in the film industry, and has said that Kangana Ranaut’s statements should not be trivialised. Kangana had previously said that 99% of the film industry has been exposed to drugs.

Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan recently made a statement in Parliament about the unfairness of painting the entire industry with the same brush.

Asked about it, Prasoon said in an interview to Times Now, “A lot of the things because of the way they are said today, the real essence gets lost. Discrediting film industry which has actually done wonderful work that’s also not right. But what Kangana is coming from, she is talking about her truth. Usko trivialise nahi kiya jaana chahiye (she should not be trivialised).”

Jaya, alleging a ‘conspiracy to defame the film industry’, had said in Parliament last month, “People in the entertainment industry are being flogged by social media. People who made their names in the industry have called it a gutter. I completely disagree. I hope that the government tells such people not to use this kind of language.”

The Narcotics Control Bureau has summoned several actors in connection with an ongoing probe into the industry’s alleged links to drugs networks. So far Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh have been questioned, while Rhea Chakraborty has been arrested.

Also read: Javed Akhtar on what he would say to his kids Zoya and Farhan Akhtar if he finds out they smoke marijuana

Asked if it is correct to say there is no drugs problem in the film industry, Prasoon said in Hindi, “Absolutely not. You have a responsibility towards society, you cannot absolve yourself of it. People say that certain things are being blown out of proportion, but no one complains when only positive things are reported. You like it very much when people talk about your airport look. Earlier you should have said ‘this is my private life I don’t want to flaunt it, what’s so great about what I ate today?’”

Previously, writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar had said that he is indifferent to the conversation around the use of marijuana, as he finds it not comparable to hard drugs such as cocaine.

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