Amol Palekar's Speech Cut Off At Mumbai Event

Veteran actor and director Amol Palekar was interrupted during his speech at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Mumbai. Later, he was cut off for criticizing the government.

While speaking at the opening of an exhibition "Inside The Empty Box" in memory of artist Prabhakar Barwe, Palekar criticized the Ministry of Culture for reportedly scrapping the advisory committees at the gallery's Mumbai and Bengaluru centers.

Again, then he was interrupted by a woman who said "This is not needed at the moment, sorry...The function is about Prabhakar Barwe, please stick to that."

Palekar explained that earlier he was invited to the Marathi literary convention by writer Nayantara Sahgal but at the last minute the invitation was withdrawn because what she was going to say "was slightly critical of the situation around us."

"Are we creating the same situation here?" he questioned. The incident made oppositions too angry and they blamed BJP for stopping people to say what they want to say.

"This is so shocking, veteran actor Amol Palekar being disrupted, not allowed to speak," the Mumbai Congress tweeted.

This is so shocking, veteran actor Amol Palekar being disrupted, not allowed to speak. Veteran actor Palekar retorted: “Are you trying to stop me from speaking and applying censorship on my speech?” pic.twitter.com/m5IxmRr8In
— MumbaiCongress (@INCMumbai) February 9, 2019