Overview
- Kher said in a Monday interview that the reported theft of donations at Ayodhya’s Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir was a “very, very small” matter compared with historical looting of temples during the Mughal era.
- A six-year-old 2020 interview clip of Naseeruddin Shah calling Kher a “clown” circulated widely on social platforms after Kher’s remarks, reviving a long‑running public spat between the two actors.
- Kher posted a new social‑media video saying he and Shah have met, hugged and reconciled, while accusing an online “ecosystem” of trolls of digging up the old clip to damage his reputation and reaffirming his original comment.
- The comments provoked sustained online backlash and political criticism, with some opposition figures publicly challenging Kher’s framing and sections of the internet replaying the Shah exchange; Kher is currently in Ayodhya shooting a film about the temple.
- The dispute highlights broader ideological divides in Bollywood and demonstrates how archival footage can be repurposed quickly to shift public debate, a dynamic that could keep the issue in news and political cycles in the near term.