Annu Kapoor’s Hum Do Hamare Baarah ‘not targeting any community’: Director reacts to criticism

Annu Kapoor announced his upcoming project Hum Do Hamare Baarah and also dropped the first poster of the film on August 5. The poster featured Annu with the rest of the cast. It looks like Annu is playing the head of a Muslim family, and has 11 children, while the wife is expecting their . After a section of social media users criticised the Hum Do Hamare Baareh poster for ‘brazen Islamophobia’ and depicting Muslims ‘as the reason for population explosion’, Kamal Chandra, the director of the film, has said that the film’s poster featuring Annu Kapoor is ‘not objectionable at all’. It needs to be seen ‘in the right context’, he added. Read more: Annu Kapoor says ‘kaun hai’ Aamir Khan on being asked about Laal Singh Chaddha

On Sunday, journalist Rana Ayyub had tweeted the poster of Hum Do Humare Baarah and questioned the Central Board of Film Certification for clearing the film. Her tweet read, “How does the censor board (Central Board of Film Certification) allow a film like this that depicts Muslims as the reason for population explosion and extends the relentless attack on the community. The brazen hate and Islamophobia when they use the image of a Muslim family and call it ‘Hum do Hamare Barah’.” A Twitter user responded to her tweet and wrote, “Bollywood’s part of a devious ploy…”

Now, in an interview with ETimes, director Kamal Chandra reacted to these allegations against the Hum do Hamare Barah poster, and said, “The poster of our film Hum Do Hamare Baarah is not objectionable at all. It needs to be seen in the right context. We assure you that we aren’t targeting any one particular community through our film. I am pretty sure that when people will go to watch this film, they will be happy to see one of the most relevant issues of our times in our film which is based on population growth and we are making it without any prejudice and hurting sentiments of any particular community.”

The director also said the film will depict an ‘important subject’ like ‘population explosion’. He urged people to ‘see the poster and the film in the right context’. “Today, people from one particular community are feeling that they are being targeted through our film. If we would have made a poster reflecting any other community, they would had said the same thing. I feel that cinema is the best medium to express our thoughts and feelings. I urge everyone to not make an issue out of this… Population explosion is a very serious issue that is bugging our country since a long time. Till the time we don’t give it a serious thought, our country will not be able to develop the way we expect it to. I urge everyone to see the poster and the film in the right context,” Kamal said.