Film-maker Hansal Mehta today came out in support of comedian Kumal Kamra, who is being targeted over his comments on Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. In a post on X, Mr Mehta recalled an incident 25 years ago, when, he said, he was similarly targeted by the undivided Shiv Sena over an innocuous line in one of his movies. 

Mr Kamra had sparked a massive controversy over the weekend, referring to the Deputy Chief Minister as a “traitor” (Gaddar) during a performance at the hotel, located in Mumbai’s Khar — an allusion to the 2022 rebellion that split the Shiv Sena and pulled down the government led by Uddhav Thackeray. The Shiv Sena demanded his arrest and supporters and members of the party vandalized the office of the “The Unicontinental Mumbai”, where the show was held.  

Mr Mehta today recalled that he had got worse backlash and was forced to apologise.

“Loyalists of the same (then undivided) political party stormed into my office. They vandalised it, physically assaulted me, blackened my face, and forced me to apologise publicly-by falling at the feet of an elderly woman-for a single line of dialogue in my film,” his post read.  

“That incident didn’t just bruise my body. It bruised my spirit. It blunted my filmmaking, muted my courage, and silenced parts of me that took years to reclaim.,” Mr Mehta wrote. 

What happened with Kamra is, sadly, not new to Maharashtra. I’ve lived through it myself.

Twenty-five years ago, loyalists of the same (then undivided) political party stormed into my office. They vandalised it, physically assaulted me, blackened my face, and forced me to…

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) March 24, 2025

Asserting that intimidation and humiliation “can never be justified” he added that “we owe ourselves dialogue, dissent, and dignity”.

Mr Kamra has pointedly refused to back down. In a post on X, he said today that he would “cooperate with the police and courts for any lawful action taken against me”. At the same time, he questioned if the law will be ‘fairly and equally deployed against those who have decided that vandalism is the appropriate response to a joke”.