Hyderabad: Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is the latest to weigh in on the ongoing India-Bharat debate. Kashyap has expressed his views on the potential renaming of the country during the promotions of his latest acting venture Haddi. The filmmaker opined that such a change would be an impractical endeavor with adverse consequences for the entire population, particularly the most vulnerable members of society.
During a promotional interview for Haddi, Anurag argued that this move would result in a substantial waste of taxpayer money and create undue hardships due to the need to reissue all official documents. During an interview, Anurag Kashyap, joined by his co-star Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and director Akshat Ajay Sharma from the film Haddi, was asked about his perspective on the India-Bharat debate. In response, he questioned the necessity of such a change.
The filmmaker said: "I don’t understand this. When was India not Bharat? Just writing ‘Bharat’ instead of ‘India’ on a piece of paper… And imagine doing this on all government documents, each and everyone will need to get their passports renewed, Aadhar cards and ration cards will have to be renewed. They’ll spend four years worth of tax money on this alone."
The Manmarziyaan helmer continued, expressing concerns about the practicality of such a massive undertaking, saying that it would be a whimsical decision made by one person without considering the consequences. "Everything will need to be changed. Is it a humanly possible task to do it without wasting all that money? Ek whimsical aadmi ek whim pe aise kare, uske consequences sochta hai kabhi woh (A whimsical man can just do this on a whim, without thinking about the consequences)."
"All banknotes will have to be changed, educational degrees will have to be changed, everybody will be issued new vaccine certificates. What all will they reprint? Are people just supposed to wait till all this is done? People won’t get ration, people won’t be able to travel. What in the world are they thinking?" said Anurag on the discussions regarding the name of the country.
The debate over officially changing the name from India to Bharat made headlines ahead of the recently concluded G20 summit. Speculation arose when President Droupadi Murmu's G20 dinner invitations referred to her as 'President of Bharat' instead of 'President of India.' During the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's card displayed the name 'Bharat.'
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