Underscoring that he is not proud of the way Bollywood portrays the LGBTQ community, actor Imran Khan has said that the discrimination against them has the potential to embarrass India.

“I am not proud of the manner in which my industry portrays the LGBTQ community,” Imran Khan said participating in a panel discussion on “LGBTQ Rights in India” at the annual India Conference 2016, organized by the Indian students of the Harvard University last evening.

“I would like where it is treated as equal. To me it is ludicrous that we have to discuss this at all. It is human rights. It is basically an issue of civil liberties,” Khan said at a packed auditorium of the Harvard University.

“I fear that this is one of those things that have the potential to embarrass our country on the world stage. When we are talking of India shining and there is a massive, unprecedented growth, then we are also under global spotlight. The world is looking at us on what we do on this,” he added.

He hoped that time is not far away when this kind of divide will stop existing and will reflect in Bollywood films too.

“I do not want us to be standing there with egg on our face. It has to happen, in which Bollywood portrays LGBTQ as a normal person,” he said.