MP Shatrughan Sinha breaks silence on actor Mukesh Khanna's remarks about his daughter's upbringing

Veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha has come to the defense of his daughter, Sonakshi Sinha, following a verbal attack from ‘Shaktiman’ fame actor Mukesh Khanna.

After Khanna criticized Sonakshi's upbringing, she responded sharply. Now, Shatrughan has also criticized Khanna's remarks, condemning his statement.

In an interview, Sonakshi was criticized by Khanna for a previous appearance on the Indian television game show “Kaun Banega Crorepati," where she was unable to answer a question on the Ramayana.

Sonakshi then sent an open letter to him in response. Now, Khanna has also been criticized by Shatrughan.

“I believe someone has a problem with Sonakshi not answering a question on the Ramayana. Firstly, what qualifies this person to be an expert on all things to do with the Ramayana? And who has appointed him the guardian of the Hindu religion?” said Satrughan.

The veteran actor then stood up for his daughter Sonakshi, saying that she is not "disqualified from being a good Hindu" just because she failed to answer a question on the Ramayana.

“I am very proud of all my three children. Sonakshi became a star on her own. I never had to launch her career. She is a daughter any father would be proud to have, said Shatrughan.

“Not answering a question on the Ramayana doesn’t disqualify Sonakshi from being a good Hindu. She doesn’t need a certificate of approval from anyone,” he added.

Earlier, Sonakshi sent an open letter to Khanna after the actor made fun of her for failing to answer a question on Lord Hanuman from the Ramayana on KBC, pointing to her Hindu upbringing as the reason for this.

"I recently read a statement you made saying that it’s my father’s fault I did not correctly answer a question about the Ramayana on a show I attended many years back,” wrote Sonakshi.

“Firstly, let me remind you there were two women on the hot seat that day who did not know the answer to the same question, but you chose to keep taking my name, and only my name, for reasons that are quite obvious,” she added.

She continued, “Yes, I may have blanked out that day, a human tendency, and forgotten who the Sanjeevani Booti was bought for, but clearly, you have also forgotten some of the lessons of forgive and forget taught by Lord Rama himself. If Lord Rama can forgive Manthara, if he can forgive Kaikeyi, if he can even forgive Ravan after the great battle was done, surely you can let go of this extremely small thing in comparison.”

“Not that I need your forgiveness. But yes, I definitely need you to forget and stop bringing up the same incident time and again to be back in the news at the expense of me and my family,” wrote Sonakshi.

In response, Khanna said that he was surprised she took 'so long' to respond but reaffirmed his previous statement.

“My intention was to react to today’s generation, which is called ‘Gen-Z’ by elders, who have become slaves to today’s Google world and mobile phones,” said Khanna.

“Their knowledge is limited to Wikipedia and social interactions on YouTube. And here, I had a hi-fi case before me, which I could use to teach others – fathers, sons, daughters,” he added.