Karachi: Pakistani actor Adnan Siddiqui has apologised to the families of late Bollywood actors Sridevi and Irrfan Khan over “extremely callous” remarks made against them during live chat show Jeeway Pakistan.
Host and leader of political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Aamir Liaquat Hussain mocked that Siddiqui, who appeared on the show, had “saved lives” of two well-known stars by not doing movies with them.
Siddiqui, who starred opposite Sridevi in Mom and worked with Irrfan in A Mighty Heart, didn’t get the reference and in his explanation Liaquat said, “Look, you worked in Mom, Sridevi passed away. You worked with Irrfan Khan, and now he died.”
The host further said that the 50-year-old actor was offered Mardaani 2 with Rani Mukerji and Jism 2 with Bipasha Basu, and by not taking up these projects he had spared the lives of the other two actors.
On the show itself, Siddiqui expressed his displeasure over Liaquat’s remarks, saying it was not a matter of joke and both the actors were really close to him.
He later took to social media where he called out the host’s comments as an “unfortunate incident” and apologised for them.
“The anchor Aamir Liaquat joked about something extremely sensitive. Not only were they both close to me but also as a human it was wrong on so many levels. I cannot even call it ‘hitting below the belt’,” he said in a lengthy statement posted on Instagram Saturday.
Calling it an “extremely callous act”, Siddiqui said the remarks put the “entire country in bad light”.
“I want to apologise to the families of Sridevi Sahiba and Irrfan Khan Sahab and their loved ones. If you see my body language I was extremely uncomfortable with what he said but I didn’t want to stoop to that level. I regret being on the show.”
“I’ve learnt a lesson and I promise I will not tolerate such act in future. I was hoping this bit wouldn’t become public but unfortunately, it has,” he added.
Sridevi passed away in February 2018 in Dubai, while Irrfan died April 29 in Mumbai.
PTI