Actress and filmmaker Pooja Bhatt took to social media to criticise individuals singing inside the Mumbai Metro during festival of Navratri. A video that surfaced on X (formerly known as Twitter) shows a group of people sitting on the floor of the metro, joyfully singing 'Bharat Ka Baccha Baccha Jai Shri Ram Bolega' and other Gujarati garba songs.
While some users praised the festive spirit and community bonding among Mumbaikars, Pooja's reaction was far from celebratory. In her post, she questioned the appropriateness of such behaviour in public spaces.
The viral video was first shared on X with the caption, "This, truly, is what Hindutva Pop music has been designed for--the easy appeal that it creates among various classes, across the rural & urban. Well-heeled, upper-class youngsters, seeing no problem in singing this in a metro. H-Pop is everywhere."
Reacting to the video, Pooja asked, "How is this permissible in a public space? Doesn’t matter if it is Hindutva pop, Christmas carols, Bollywood blockbusters or anything in between. Public spaces cannot be misused in this manner."
"How and why are the authorities permitting this? Yeah, now bring on the abuse," she added.
In another post, Pooja stated that law and order cannot be maintained in any place if people don't follow basic civic rules.
"If we can’t follow basic rules there is no hope for law & order to prevail in the real sense. Illegal hoardings of ALL political parties that desecrate the city the metro being turned into a party zone. Firecrackers being lit in the middle of the street-used as cover by assailants," he wrote on X.
It may be mentioned that Pooja's this post, mentioning firecrackers being used as cover by assailants, comes a couple of days after former Maharashtra Minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique was shot dead under the cover of a Dussehra procession and fireworks in Bandra. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has taken responsibility for the shooting.
Pooja is quite active on social media and she often shares her views and opinion on various civic and social issues in the city.
Meanwhile, on the work front, the actress will feature alongside Suniel Shetty in an upcoming thriller project. They had famously starred in JP Dutta's war film Border in 1997, though they didn't share the screen space.
Pooja was last seen in Prime Video's coming-of-age drama series Big Girls Don't Cry. She had also participated in Bigg Boss OTT 2 as a contestant.
