Before Priyanka Chopra's Quantico, This Shah Rukh Khan Film Showed Hindu Nationalists As Terrorists

Priyanka Chopra's Quantico is making headlines all fo the wrong reasons. The show is in its last season, after the channel ABC network didn't renew the series for the fourth season. But Quantico decided to out with a bang, though not the one they really want to have. The show and its lead actress, Priyanka, has managed to attract the ire of certain Indian viewers who were unhappy with the fifth episode of the third season.

The reason for the ire with the episode was that it showed Hindu nationalists planning a nuclear attack on Manhattan and putting the blame on Pakistan. This has not gone down well with some of the Indian viewers, who feel the show is insulting their culture, forgetting the fact that Quantico is a work of fiction. The network later issued an apology for 'hurting' the sentiments of the Indian viewers and even retracted the episode from the Indian telecast. Karni Sena even labelled Priyanka Chopra as an 'anti-national'.

But how many of us actually remember that making a radical Hindu nationalist as a terrorist is something even Bollywood has attempted before? In 2004, Shah Rukh Khan came out with his home production, Main Hoon Na, in which he played an army major masquerading as a college student. In the same movie, Suneil Shetty played the main antagonist, Raghavan, a deranged former military man who is against the peaceful ties of India with Pakistan and is planning a terrorist conspiracy to prevent the same. It is later revealed that he is not doing out of nationalism, but because he wants to take revenge for the death of his child.

Main Hoon Na came out at a time when there was very less scope for outrage for such matters on social networking sites. The news channels rarely paid heed to fringe elements like Karni Sena, who  looking to seek attention from blaming Bollywood. Unfortunately for PeeCee, Quantico is airing at a time when even little matters get blown out of proportion.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 10, 2018 02:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).