Cinema VinesRajkumar Santoshi has taken a stand against Shabana Azmi’s remarks that the 2023 release Batwara 1947 failed because audiences could not accept Sunny Deol as a Muslim protagonist. In a recent interview with Variety India, the director refuted the notion that Indian viewers are now less tolerant of heroes from other faiths, pointing to a legacy of Muslim characters in mainstream cinema.
Santoshi cited Amitabh Bachchan’s portrayal of a Muslim hero in Coolie (1983) and the numerous Muslim leads in Manmohan Desai’s films as evidence that the industry has long embraced religious diversity. “It makes no sense to me,” he said. “Amitabh Bachchan played a Muslim hero in Coolie. So many of Manmohan Desai’s films had Muslim heroes. Are we at a point where we cannot accept a hero from the other community? We are sensible, good people, educated people. How are they saying there’s a big mistake in the film?”
The filmmaker also warned of a decline in societal tolerance and inclusivity, urging audiences to consider the filmmaker’s intent and the writer’s message. “We have become far less tolerant and inclusive as a people,” Santoshi noted. “You should look at the filmmaker’s intent and what the writer wants to say.” He added that his personal faith—he is a Hindu who attends temple and names his son Ram—does not preclude him from embracing elements from all religions, stating that Hinduism has historically promoted inclusiveness rather than exclusion.
Azmi’s comments, made during a Zoom conversation, suggested that Deol’s casting as a Muslim character may have contributed to the film’s poor reception. She remarked, “The thing is that you cannot accept Sunny Deol as a Muslim. In Coolie and in many other films, Amitabh Bachchan very comfortably played Muslim characters. In Deewaar, he put 786, and that was accepted. So how do we understand this? Are they creating an environment where such decisions are being taken on purpose? I am not able to understand.” She added that even Pakistani actor Bushra Ahmed criticized the film’s language, noting the Punjabi dialect used by the villain was inaccurate.
With Santoshi’s intervention, the debate over Batwara 1947 has expanded beyond box‑office numbers to broader questions of representation, religious identity, and creative freedom in contemporary Indian cinema.
