New Delhi: Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar lodged a spirited counter attack on Bollywood stars and the film industry at a gathering of followers, retaliating against the premise of popular 2012 Hindi film 'Oh My God ' that criticized institutionalized religion and rampant corruption in temple trusts.
He mocked actors who make crores by just "sneezing in front of the camera", exploited the poor and led "immoral and unethical lives."
"People who systematically attack values of the society and the culture of the country, are in some mischief, I tell you. They say all ashrams are bad. You can't put all ashrams into one basket. You can't say all temples are simply looting money. They take religion and beat up the religion, a new trend that has come up in society," Sri Sri Ravi Shankar told the gathering.
"What do Bollywood do? Each of the time these actors come and sneeze in front of the camera, they take crores of rupees. For Vicks advertisement they just have to come and sneeze two times and 2-3 crores they take," he said top a smattering of laughter among the audience.
The film 'Oh My God' starring actors Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar, that took a critical view of the way religious leaders exploit the blind faith of the poor, came under attack from various religious bodies.
"What do they (Bollywood actors) do? The drink, go for drugs, drinking partying and waste money. Whose money? Public's money," Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said.
"Poor people go for entertainment and waste money, their hard earned money and crores go to the pocket of these Bollywood actors and actresses. And their lives - I tell you - are miserable. It is misery in bundle. Immoral, unethical behaviour...most of them have no ethics and they say there should be no idols there should be no pujas, don't go to 'satsangs' (congregation of religious people)," he said.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was speaking on idol worship, music, art and ethics in Bollywood and politics.
Source: IBN Live
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