Prakash Raj attacks Bollywood for not speaking up on political issues: 'Half of them are sold, the other half is...'

Prakash Raj has often voiced his opinions on political issues and spoken against the current BJP-led government, including the PM Narendra Modi. In his recent interview, the veteran actor slammed the Hindi film industry for maintaining silence on political issues, adding that "half of them are sold", and the "other half is afraid" to speak up against the government.

Speaking to The Lallantop, Prakash Raj shared that any government will try to suppress its criticism, but the filmmakers need to make important films and fight for their release. "Any powerful government will stop discussions. Secondly, it should be within the artists also. They should also have the consciousness of the kind of films that they make, they would be willing to fight to release the film. That resilience is needed", he said.

Talking about his colleagues in Bollywood, the five-time National Award winner added, "Half of them are sold, my own colleagues, and half of them are afraid because they don’t have the strength. I have a very close friend who, told me, ‘Prakash aap mein dum hai, aap bol sakte hai, main nahi bol pata (You have the strength, you can speak up, I can’t).’ I told him that I understand but I can’t excuse him because in future, when history would be written, it will forgive those who committed crimes but not those who were silent. Everybody is responsible."

Prakash Raj stated that he's getting less work in Bollywood after he has been vocal about his political beliefs. He said, "They are just worried that if they work with us in a film, they won’t get what they expect. So, this is part and parcel of it. This environment is like that. It makes me stronger to say that this is not right, so we will have to fight, we will have to raise our voice." When he was asked directly if actors lose opportunities for sharing their opinions, he said, "It’s not that you won’t get work, you do and you will, but not as much."

On the work front, Raj was most recently seen in Suriya's Tamil romantic action drama Retro, which released on May 1. He has Pawan Kalyan-starrer Telugu action thriller They Call Him OG and the Tamil political drama Jana Nayagan, Thalapathy Vijay's final film before he enters full-time into politics, in his pipeline.

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