Published 18:17 IST, March 4th 2020
Hounded by MNS, 'Taarak Mehta' issues on-air apology if they hurt anyone's sentiments
Sony Sab TV's popular sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (TMKOC) received an open threat by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Read details below-
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Popular sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (TMKOC) received an open threat by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). During an episode of the comedy serial, it was reported that the language of Mumbai is Hindi. And now, in Tuesday night's episode, Shailesh Lodha who plays the role of Taarak Mehta in the show issued an apology on-air in case he hurt anyone's sentiments. Substantiating the reason why Champak Chacha (Amit Bhatt) called Hindi as the language of Mumbai in an episode, he said, "We just wanted to portray that Mumbai as a city has accepted several other cultures with open arms". Watch below-
Cast issues apology
After the language comment, MNS had demanded an apology. Further, MNS Chitrapat Sena president Amey Khopkar told Republic TV, “Since yesterday a video is going viral on social media. I want to ask the writer, Niren Bhatt, you know the language of Chennai, but not the language of Maharashtra?”. “We have written a letter to the makers, producers, and writers and if they do not apologise to the Marathi population, we will not let them work in Mumbai,” he continued.
The dialogue that stirred controversy
The actor in the scene (Amit Bhatt) said “See, our Gokuldham is in Mumbai, what is Mumbai’s language? Hindi. That is why we will write the thought for the day in Hindi.” He then added, “If our Gokuldam would’ve been in Chennai, we’d have written it in Tamil, and if our Gokuldam would’ve been in America and Europe, we’d have written in English,”. The dialogue did not sit well with several and gained mixed responses from social media.
Further, the Sena workers landed up at the house of the actor in question and asked him to apologise over the dialogue. The actor plays the character of protagonist Jethalal’s father in the TV episode. Maharashtra Navnirman Film wing’s Chief Ameya Khopkar also accused the makers of spreading ‘propaganda’ though the dialogue and how Maharashtrian artists working on the show might have felt it as an ‘insult’. He even threatened to teach them a lesson.
18:17 IST, March 4th 2020