Portraying Muslims as terrorists isn’t something new for Bollywood, they have proven time and time again in their movies the Islamophobic narrative that they support.

Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi is no different, featuring Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, Ranveer Singh and Katrina Kaif among others, the movie supports the same narrative i.e Muslims are terrorists. And while the movie did manage to collect 100 crores, it did not win the Pakistanis over. Several celebrities have spoken about the Islamophobic elements in the film including TV and film actress Mehwish Hayat, makeup artist and influencer turned actress Zoya Nasir, President Arif Alvi and British actor and rapper Riz Ahmed.

Mehwish Hayat

Recipient of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Mehwish Hayat, took to her Instagram stories and asked for a fair, if not positive, depiction of Muslims. The Chhallawa actress also mentioned how the tide is already turning in Hollywood as she expressed her disappointment with Bollywood:

PHOTO: Instagram/MehwishHayatOfficial

President Arif Alvi

President Arif Alvi too expressed his disappointment at the negative portrayal of Muslims in the film, quoting another user’s tweet, the president of Pakistan hoped for sane elements to prevail in the Indian society. He also quoted Milton Kandera, saying, ‘’the first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, destroy its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was… The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”

Dangerous for India. In this Islamophobic hatred India will destroy itself, no less. I hope & pray that sane elements within Indian society prevent this.
Milton Kandera wrote that ‘the first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, https://www.bolnews.com/entertainment/2021/11/mehwish-hayat-zoya-nasir-arif-alvi-riz-ahmed-disappointed-in-sooryavanshi/amp/

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— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) November 16, 2021

Zoya Nasir

Makeup artist and influencer turned actress Zoya Nasir dared the makers to enjoy their 100 crore club with a good conscience. The Dobara actress found the act repulsive:

PHOTO: Instagram/ZoyaNasir

Riz Ahmed

British actor and rapper, Riz Ahmed also quoted the same tweet as President Arif Alvi and shared a disgusted emoji to express his disappointment:

🤮 https://www.bolnews.com/entertainment/2021/11/mehwish-hayat-zoya-nasir-arif-alvi-riz-ahmed-disappointed-in-sooryavanshi/amp/

— Riz Ahmed (@rizwanahmed) November 15, 2021