MP Minister, who spoke on SRK's 'Pathaan', reacts to PM Modi's message on movies

Bhopal: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested that BJP workers should refrain from making unnecessary remarks on irrelevant issues such as movies, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said his words are important for the party members. Mishra had last month objected to actor Deepika Padukone's attire in the 'Besharam Rang' song in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer "Pathaan". The minister had earlier also raised objections over certain content in some other movies and web series while defending Indian culture and traditions.

In his address to the BJP national executive on Tuesday, PM Modi suggested party workers to refrain from making unnecessary remarks on irrelevant issues such as movies, saying that they put the party's development agenda on the back-burner, party sources said.

When asked about Modi's remarks and whether his name was mentioned by the PM, Mishra, who is also the spokesperson of the Madhya Pradesh government, told reporters, "Nobody was named, but his (PM Modi's) every word, sentence is important for us and that is why all the workers have drawn inspiration from there. Our conduct and behaviour are always filled with his guidance and energy and will continue to be in future."

भाजपा राष्ट्रीय कार्यकारिणी की बैठक में माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी जी के प्रेरणादायी उद्बोधन से पार्टी कार्यकर्ताओं को नई ऊर्जा मिली है।#BJPNEC2023 pic.twitter.com/EHFz5pGcdR — Dr Narottam Mishra (@drnarottammisra) January 18, 2023

Mishra, a powerful minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet, often hits headlines for his controversial comments -- whether they are related to films or leaders of other political parties.

Last month, while objecting to Deepika Padukone's saffron costume in the song from "Pathaan", Mishra had warned if certain scenes were not "corrected", the government would consider what to do about its screening.

Mishra had also said that Padukone had been a supporter of the "Tukde Tukde gang" as seen in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) case.

In January 2020, Padukone had visited the JNU to extend her support to the students protesting against violence at the campus. Before finding "faults" in the song 'Besharm Rang' and calling for their rectification, Mishra had in October last year warned the makers of another Bollywood film, 'Adipurush', based on the epic Ramayana, of legal action if scenes showing Hindu religious figures in a 'wrong' way were not removed.

In July, he had directed authorities to file an FIR (First Information Report) over a controversial poster of filmmaker Leena Manimekalai's documentary 'Kaali' after an outrage.