Akshay Kumar reacts to Pakistani man at Red Sea fest who says Bell Bottom has ‘things against Pak’

Akshay Kumar has responded to a Pakistani man who questioned the way Pakistan was portrayed in the Bollywood star’s 2021 film Bell Bottom.

The actor told the man that it was “just a movie”, and that he must avoid getting serious about it.

Akshay was attending Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival. During an in-conversation session at the festival, the actor reacted to a man who questioned about his film, Bell Bottom during an in-conversation session.

The film was directed by Ranjit Tiwari and revolved around airplane hijacking of Indian Airlines and a mission to rescue the passengers.

The man told Akshay, “I’m from Pakistan, your neighbour country. I have a request. You do fantastic movies like Pad Man and Toilet. There is an issue between India and Pakistan as well. Your recent movie Bell Bottom has certain things against Pakistan.”

Akshay quickly responded with, “Sir, it’s just a movie. Don’t get so serious about it. It’s just a movie. There are many things like that. It’s just a movie, sir.”

Bell Bottom is set in the 1980s. Akshay essayed the role of an Indian secret agent. While the film was well-received in India, it was widely criticised overseas and was banned in Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The film also featured Vaani Kapoor, Lara Dutta and Huma Qureshi in lead roles. It was said to be inspired by real life hijackings by Khalistani terrorists during the 1980s including the hijacking of several Indian Airlines flights.

Akshay’s recent releases include Ram Setu that had a theatrical release and Cuttputlli that saw a digital premiere. Directed by Abhishek Sharma, Ram Setu also featured Jacqueline Fernandez.

Akshay has a few interesting projects in the line up, including Emraan Hashmi-Diana Penty-starrer Selfiee and Anand L Rai’s next Gorkha.

The actor recently announced that his next project will be about sex education. He also told Deadline that his Prime Video original show, titled The End has a lot of action and is science fiction.