Saif Ali Khan Meant This By ‘No Concept Of India Before British’ Comment And Hindutva In Tanhaji
Saif Ali Khan has been facing flack for his recent comment, the actor claimed there was ‘No Concept Of India Before British’. But here's what Tanhaji star actually meant about the Hindutva in his film
Saif
Ali
Khan
recently
found
himself
in
the
fire,
when
a
small
clip
from
his
recent
interview
went
viral.
Saif
sat
down
with
Film
Companion,
to
talk
about
his
last
release,
Tanhaji:
The
Unsung
Warrior.
The
clip
shows
only
a
minute
of
the
conversation,
and
it
ends
at
Saif
saying,
'I
don't
think
there
was
a
concept
of
India
till
the
British
gave
it
one.'
However,
to
actually
understand
what
the
actor
meant,
one
will
have
to
watch
the
entire
interview.
Saif
during
the
interview
with
film
critic
Anupama
Chopra,
can
be
seen
talking
about
the
current
social
climate
in
the
country
and
the
polarising
politics
of
Tanhaji:
The
Unsung
Warrior.
The
actor
went
on
to
share
that
the
film
made
some
changes
to
the
true
story,
and
he
thinks
it
is
unfair
that
people
will
go
on
to
believe
this
is
our
true
history.
When
asked,
why
he
didn't
choose
to
walk
out
of
the
film,
Saif
said,
"For
some
reason,
I
didn't
take
a
stand.
Maybe
next
time
I
would.
I
was
very
excited
to
play
the
role
because
it's
a
delicious
role.
But
when
people
say
this
is
history,
I
don't
think
this
is
history.
I
am
quite
aware
of
what
the
history
was.
I
don't
think
there
was
a
concept
of
India
till
the
British
gave
it
one."
That's
where
the
clip
end,
but
later
in
the
interview,
Saif
begins
to
talk
about
what
he
meant.
He
adds,
"One
shouldn't
quote
what
you
have
read
in
school
today,
on
an
international
platform,
because
you
will
be
told
you
are
wrong
(based
on
what
they
have
seen
in
the
film).
I
would
love
to
be
part
of
a
film
industry
that
would
take
a
stand
and
tell
what
history
truly
is
and
not
try
to
mould
it
towards
a
certain
kind
of
belief
currently
spreading."
"But
makers
think,
this
is
what
runs
and
it
is
more
than
just
an
action
movie.
A
lot
of
people
are
involved." He
also
added,
he
struggles
with
the
idea
of
where
society
is
going
now,
what
it
has
to
look
forward
to,
take
a
look:
During
another
interview
with
Rajeev
Masand
prior
to
the
release
of
the
film,
Saif
also
agreed
to
Ajay's
comment,
that
said,
'We
have
forgotten
our
history.
It
was
changed
and
suppressed
by
our
rulers,
the
British
government.
They
didn't
want
us
to
learn
from
our
historic
fighters
and
fight
back.
So
we
now
know
only
part
of
the
history'.
Saif
said
something
similar
in
his
recent
interview,
(mentioned
above).
Coming
back
to
Saif's
'No
Concept
Of
India
Before
British' comment
and
relating
it
to
the
reference
of
his
last
film
Tanhaji:
The
Unsung
Warrior.
Bharat
aka
Hindostan,
back
in
the
day,
was
made
of
several
big,
small
empires
and
King's
territories.
The
land
of
seven
rivers
as
referred
by
the
world,
Hindu,
didn't
truly
strike
the
idea
of
one
nation
under
one
rule.
The
entire
land
which
is
now
India,
was
divided
into
smaller
lands
ruled
and
governed
by
several
different
kings
and
emperors,
who
fought
among
themselves
and
made
treaties
to
benefits
themselves.
Kangana
also
recently
commented
on
the
matter
and
told
Zee
News,
"This
is
not
true.
If
there
was
no
Bharat
then
what
was
Mahabharat?
That
5,000-year-old
text
that
was
written,
what
was
it?
What
did
Ved
Vyas
write?
Some
people
have
just
created
these
narratives
that
suit
them.
Sri
Krishna
was
in
Mahabharat.
So
there
was
a
Bharat,
that's
why
it
was
mahaan
(great).
All
the
kings
of
India
came
together
to
fight
that
war.
So
it's
natural...,"
Yes,
Bharat
did
exist,
but
we
all
came
together
and
understood
each
other's
suffering
when
we
were
put
under
one
ruler,
and
common
enemy,
'The
East
India
Company',
which
later
took
on
the
governing
rule
and
handed
it
to
the
Queen
of
England.
Every
corner
of
the
nation
became
one
as
India
only
after
the
British's
reign
of
terror.
It
didn't
just
last
for
decades
but
also
was
at
large
throughout
the
land
of
our
country.
And
before
that,
we
were
all
part
of
different
territories,
that
didn't
know
what
happened
in
the
neighbouring
land,
even
though
part
of
the
same-titled
land
Hindostan.
So
maybe
Saif
didn't
mean
any
harm
to
our
patriotism
by
the
comment,
'I
don't
think
there
was
a
concept
of
India
till
the
British
gave
it
one',
he
meant
we
all
came
together
in
spite
of
our
differences
to
stand
against
a
formidable
force
and
that
is
part
of
our
history,
that
made
us
one,
as
Indians.
Disclaimer:
The
views
expressed
in
this
article
are
that
of
the
writer.