Batwara 1947: Rajkumar Santoshi calls out Shabana Azmi’s Sunny Deol theory, says ‘It makes no sense to me’
31 August,2026 09:40 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Rajkumar Santoshi has rejected Shabana Azmi’s theory that audiences struggled to accept Sunny Deol as a Muslim in Batwara 1947. Citing Amitabh Bachchan’s Coolie, Santoshi questioned whether viewers have become less tolerant, stressing cinema should focus on the filmmaker’s intent
Rajkumar Santoshi and a still from Batwara 1947 (Pictures
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Filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi has pushed back against Shabana Azmi’s take on why audiences may have struggled to accept Sunny Deol as a Muslim character inBatwara 1947. According to the veteran actor, Sunny’s larger-than-life image may have made it difficult for viewers to see him as a Muslim on screen. Santoshi, however, doesn’t buy that argument.
Shabana Azmi compared Sunny Deol’s role to Amitabh Bachchan
Azmi had recently expressed her reaction at the audience response to the Partition drama to Zoom, in which she stars alongside Deol. She pointed out that Amitabh Bachchan had successfully played Muslim characters despite being one of Hindi cinema’s biggest stars. “The thing is that you cannot accept Sunny Deol as a Muslim. In Coolie and in many other films, Amitabh Bachchan very comfortably played Muslim characters. In Deewaar, he put 786 and that was accepted. So how do we understand this?” she had shared.
She also claimed that some viewers came out of the theatre believing Deol was portraying a Pakistani character. “Even the ones who watched the film think Sunny Deol is playing a Pakistani. He is not. It is simply not registering in their heads,” Azmi said.
Rajkumar Santoshi differs from Shabana’s statement
Rajkumar Santoshi, though, sees things differently. Speaking to Variety India, the filmmaker cited Bachchan’s performance in Coolie to argue that Bollywood has long featured leading men playing characters from different communities. “It makes no sense to me. Amitabh Bachchan played a Muslim hero in Coolie. So many of Manmohan Desai’s films had Muslim heroes. Are we at a point where we cannot accept a hero from the other community?” Santoshi questioned.
The director believes the bigger issue lies in how society has changed. Looking back at his 2001 film Lajja, he observed, “We have become far less tolerant and inclusive as people.”
For Santoshi, cinema should be judged by what a filmmaker is trying to say rather than by the community or religion of a character. “You should look at the filmmaker’s intent and what the writer wants to say,” he stressed. He added, “I am not against any faith. But I want to take the best of every faith.”
Batwara 1947 revolves around the human cost of Partition and explores communal harmony, displacement and relationships between people caught on opposite sides of history. Deol plays Sikandar Mirza, a Muslim man, while Azmi essays Mai, a Hindu woman.
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