Bollywood has declared war on ‘Curry Bashing’. After Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, stars like Mallika Sherawat, Vidya Balan and Vivek Oberoi are now becoming vocal in their support for tormented Indian students in Australia. Mallika, in Los Angeles to finish work on the serpent movie Hissss, has this to say on Twitter: “Re Australia: racism is for losers! Eradicate ignorance and racism will cease to exist.Vidya Balan too is upset by the wave of hate crimes in Melbourne and Sydney that have left many Indian students like Sourabh Sharma, Shravan Kumar and Baljinder Singh grievously injured. It’s despairing to know that Indians living in Australia are being targeted and attacked on racial grounds.
I am deeply disturbed by these incidents,” she says.According to Vivek Oberoi, racism needs to be condemned, no matter where or in whatever form it occurs. “Whether it happens in India, Australia or for that matter anywhere in the world, racism is bad. There is no place for racial discrimination in a liberal and democratic society. It’s a condemnable act,” he says. Acknowledging Bollywood’s warm and cordial relations with Australia where several blockbusters like Salaam Namaste and Bachna Ae Haseeno have been shot in recent times, actor Tusshar Kapoor feels the authorities there need to do much more to protect Indian citizens. “Australia has always been a favourite location for our films.
We have contributed so much to the Australian tourism and hospitality industries. It is only fair that the Australian government makes much more strident efforts to protect the life and limb of every Indian living in that country,” he insists.