…not to forget the Nepal territory because Nepal territory is also a part of India…
A recent remark by a moderator of an Indian TV channel had outraged many Nepalis who vented their reactions on different social networking sites. In a movie review show ETC Bollywood Business [1] anchor and movie analyst Komal Nahta made a statement that Nepal is also part of India while explaining the box office collection for the blockbuster Bollywood movie DON 2.
The video on YouTube posted below also follows a clarification statement by ETC networks [2] on the statement made by Mr. Nahta:
It became a much talked issue on social networks this week and has once again fuelled debate on Nepal-India relations.
As matters got intense online, especially on Twitter mentioning Komal Nahta (@KomalNahta [3]) while discussing his statement, he had to tweet a clarification article [4] and also had to write a convincing blog post [5] by holding his same values.
It was surprising that Komal did not regret his statement on his blog post [5]. Rather to justify his point, he further claimed those who made such statements were just irate citizens and hardly knew about his business point. He further added:
Probably, most of the Nepali citizens who created a controversy where none existed, weren’t even aware that Nepal is, in fact, counted as part of India for the express purpose of counting the domestic shares of Bollywood films.
His attitude in responding to others’ tweets [6] was also questionable.
Lex Limbu writes [7]:
When I heard that, I felt uneasy as well. But then I wondered why a grown man, who surely is educated would say such a nothing. After fishing for clarifications Komal Nahta took to twitter and justified himself [..]. Fair enough, maybe he did have a point for saying that, but it's annoying now that the millions of geographically challenged Indian viewers will now think that Nepal is actually a territory of India (oh no).
It was not just blog posts and website articles on the issues; some YouTube videos were also made against the reporter’s statement. Watch this episode [8] on the topic:
http://youtu.be/xI9BeNHH2_g [8]
This is not the first time that such a controversy has aroused Nepalis to speak against it. In 1998, Madhuri Dixit, popular Bollywood actor had to apologise when she said that Nepal was once a part of India. Again in 2000, Hrithik Roshan, another Bollywood actor had to clarify that he had never stated that he hated Nepal and its people.
The Hrithik and Madhuri's case was also covered by BBC News [9]saying, “Movie theatres across Nepal have suspended screening Indian films after an alleged anti-Nepal slur by a Bollywood star.”
Recently in a comedy show Stephen Colbert made fun of Nepali identity [10] and culture, which had aroused similar discussions on social media.
I commented in my own blog post [11]:
My view on the topic is that be it film business calculations or industry norm or whatever, it is indeed a blasphemous error. If it’s industry norms, the reporter should have mentioned that clearly in his show.