Twinkle Khanna responds to Akshay Kumar-Mallika Dua controversy

(Image- ANI)

New Delhi: Comedienne Mallika Dua and her father Vinod Dua recently hit out at Akshay Kumar for his alleged sexist remarks against her on the show The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. The actor has been trolled on the net since last few days for making such comments. While, Akshay is busy in the music launch of his upcoming movie '2.0' in Dubai, his wife Twinkle Khanna has come out to defend her husband. Taking it to her Twitter account, the acclaimed author wrote an open note, which read, "I would like to address the controversy on the sets of The Laughter Challenge. The show has a bell which the judges ring after a contestant's exceptional performance and when Ms Dua went forward to ring the bell, Mr Kumar said, 'Mallika Ji aap bell bajao main aapko bajata hun'."  

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— Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) October 29, 2017

"A pun on the words and actions related to ringing of the bell. It's a colloquial phrase that both men and women use - for instance, 'I am going to bajao him/her' or 'I got bajaoed', Red FM even has a tagline 'Bajatey Raho' all without sexist connotations," she added. The post continued, "Vinod Dua, Mallika Dua's father, had written a post -- it's been taken down now - stating, 'I am going to screw this cretin Akshay Kumar'. Should Mr Dua's statement also be taken literally or interpreted in context? Words, especially humour has to be seen in its right context." Twinkle closed her argument by advocating for "freedom in comedy". She concluded the post by writing, "I have always stood up for the freedom within comedy including defending AIB's infamous roasts on numerous occasions in the past and that is my stance even today, so kindly stop tagging me in this debate." The controversy broke when Mallika shared an unaired video of the show on Twitter in which Akshay tells her 'Aap ghanti bajaiye, main apki bajata hu (You ring the bell and I shall bang you).' The comedienne found the comment to be sexist. Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar has not responded to the controversy yet.