Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has spoken up about the idea of India and about the important of religious and cultural diversity in the country.

In a video excerpt tweeted out by filmmaker Yasmin Kidwai from her documentary ‘Filmisthaan—The Euphoric state of Bollywood on India, the actor eloquently expressed what the idea of India represents for him.

Hear King Khan @iamsrk himself on his idea of India-

very grateful that he gave his valuable time to speak to me for my documentary Filmisthaan-The Euphoric state of Bollywood on India & our intrinsic pluralistic culture – pic.twitter.com/kuBW88Alk9 — Yasmin Kidwai (@YasminKidwai) April 22, 2019

Khan said, “Sixteen hundred language and dialects in our country. And every 10 km or 15 km the dialect changes. I don’t know how many hundreds of religions co-exist here. Being diverse is a good thing. Being divisive is not. Like art has no religion, I think our country really has no religion and all of them amalgamated together.”

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He added, “India is a beautiful painting. And all colours just enhance each other. And you take away one colour or start saying this colour is better than the other, I think the painting is not a painting anymore.”

Khan’s words about India’s religious and cultural diversity come at a time when these aspects are under attack by political parties, particularly the BJP which has amped up the communal rhetoric in the past five years. While most of the Bollywood community is conspicuously silent about the issue, actors and filmmakers including Naseeruddin Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma and Amol Palekar have appealed to the nation to vote out the BJP and its hate politics in the upcoming election.

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