Recently Sonu Nigam found himself in the middle of the controversy after he tweeted about the displeasure caused to him owing to the early morning azaan. There was a lot of furore over the actor's tweet and in fact, a Muslim cleric from West Bengal issued a fatwa against the actor. To shut all the trolls questioning the singer about the sound of azaan at his residence, the singer even shared a sound clip of the early morning azaan, which further made him the subject of discussion on Twitter.
While the film fraternity has been divided regarding their stand on this issue, recently Saif Ali Khan opened up about his take on the same. Saif said, "Don’t know who you are offending. At one level I agree, the lesser sound the better, there should be certain decibel levels allowed across religious practices. I also understand the amplification of the sound during azaan comes from insecurity."
The 'Rangoon' actor further added, "Not just here but also in Israel, apparently where three different religions co-exist. It’s been written about so I believe it’s the same. As a minority, you would like to make your presence felt and hopefully accepted. If someone says that it should be extinguished, it will make some people little uncomfortable. As a precursor to some sort of holocaust, it’s the first thing you think of. There’s a bit of fear there."
Talking about Sonu's tweet per se, the actor added, "It’s fine to express your views on the decibel levels. I think that tweet was a bit aggressive though, initially. And I do think religion should be a private affair and we should be a secular country."
When asked if he will ever be on social media, Saif signed off saying, "There is a basic advantage to it, Twitter for example, should be about spreading the news. But it’s become about becoming the news. Initially, when someone criticises me on social media, I think it’s coming from a spiritual and intellectual equal. But then I realise maybe not, that they are not as open minded as I am. And I am not interested in the opinion of these faceless, nameless people. And I don’t want everyone’s approval. Also, the fame such people gather on Twitter is a surrogate form of stardom. It comes from an interesting comment on perhaps another celebrity. It’s not real talent being sold."
