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‘I use my position to voice an opinion’
Anyone who follows actor Siddharth on social media would know that he believes in calling a spade, a space — a quality not many celebrities possess. Evident from his tweets, the actor likes to be upfront about his opinions and political ideologies and has never been shy to express his thoughts and that’s something, he says, comes “organically and naturally” to him.
“I have been outspoken ever since I was 15, and way before I was famous. So, earlier, if I had an opinion, I would share it with whoever was [there] next to me. Now, I have five million people on social media to tell it to. It’s just that the scale of the audience has changed but my opinionated nature has not. There is nothing wrong with it,” says Siddharth, who has starred in Hindi films such as Rang De Basanti (2006) and Chashme Baddoor (2013).
Recently, the actor came down heavily on Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli for his harsh ‘leave India’ statement to a fan who said he likes watching English and Australian batsmen more than the Indians. The actor called Kohli’s statement “an idiotic set of words to come from an India captain!” He also took objection to a line in the Marathi trailer of Thackeray, which repeated the Sena founder’s offensive “Uthao lungi, bajao pungi” slogan about South Indians, calling it “clearly hate speech against South Indians.”
He says that it is important to utilise one’s position as a public figure to voice an opinion. “I have reached this position in life and as an actor and I would like to use it responsibly to voice my opinion. Also because it is important that we, as a community, lay the foundation for the future generations to look up to us and learn to speak about issues,” he shares.
Siddharth also urges his fans to freely express their opinions as it will further go on to strengthen the idea of a democratic country.
“It is very important to constantly reinforce that you are a democracy and that we have the freedom to speak. The quieter we keep, the more we’ll be expected not to speak up. I want to create that environment for my fans that if they have an opinion they must speak about it,” he concludes.