T-Series MD Bhushan Kumar denies going to CAA dinner, gets caught on camera
On January 5, CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi, along with Excel Entertainment producer Ritesh Sidhwani, Bhushan Kumar, director Abhishek Kapoor, actor Ranvir Shorey, singers Shaan and Kailash Kher, met Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Baijayant 'Jay' Panda to discuss the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The meeting was organised at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Mumbai on Sunday and was followed by dinner.
The next day, Bhushan was at a trailer launch along with Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani and Anil Kapoor for their upcoming film Malang, which Kumar is producing.
When asked about the CAA meeting, Bhushan said, "I was at Grand Hyatt but that doesn't mean I was in a meeting or something."
Was it so embarrassing to attend a meeting with a minister to discuss "myths and realities" of CAA that Bhushan Kumar—one of the biggest producers in Bollywood— had to completely deny it in front of the media? This, after a BJP leader thanked him for attending it 😅 pic.twitter.com/ccRkk7I4E6
— Justin Rao (@JustinJRao) January 6, 2020
On the contrary, BJP leader Tarun Rathi thanked producer Bhushan Kumar, along with other Bollywood celebrities, for attending the meeting with Piyush Goyal and Baijayant Panda. Further, the producer's pictures were also leaked going into the venue ahead of the meeting.
The invite was also sent to industry bigwigs including Javed Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Richa Chadha, Kabir Khan and Karan Johar. All five of them didn't attend the meeting.
Actor Swara Bhasker and directors Anubhav Sinha and Anurag Kashyap were not invited. All of them have been vocal about their opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act.