'If Lord Ram can forgive Manthara, if he can forgive Kaikeyi, if he can even forgive Ravan after the great battle was done, surely you can let go of this extremely small thing in comparison... not that I need your forgiveness.'
The heated exchange between Sonakshi Sinha and Mukesh Khanna seems to have ended with the latter's peace-making statement.
It all started when Khanna took a dig at Sonakshi for a question that she failed to answer at an episode on Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2019.
The question was: For whom did Hanuman bring the Sanjeevani booti?
Besides pointing a finger at youngsters for not knowing 'Indian culture', Khanna said in an interview, 'People were angry that Sonakshi didn't know this, but I would say it's not her fault -- it's her father's fault. Why didn't they teach their children this?'
Sonakshi did not take that statement well, and lashed out in an Instagram post: 'Dear Sir, Mukesh Khannaji ...I recently read a statement you made saying that it's my father's fault I did not answer a question about the Ramayana correctly on a show I attended many, many years back.
'Firstly, let me remind you there were two women on the hot seat that day who did not know the answer to the same question, but you choose to keep taking my name, and only my name, for reasons which are quite obvious.
'Yes, I may have blanked out that day, a human tendency, and forgotten who the sanjeevani booti was brought for, but clearly, you have also forgotten some of the lessons of forgive and forget taught by Lord Ram himself...
'If Lord Ram can forgive Manthara, if he can forgive Kaikeyi, if he can even forgive Ravan after the great battle was done, surely you can let go of this extremely small thing in comparison... not that I need your forgiveness.
'But yes, I definitely need you to forget and stop bringing up the same incident time and again to be back in the news at the expense of me and my family.
'Lastly, the next time you decide to say anything about the values my father has instilled in me... please remember it's because of those values that I have only said what I said, very respectfully, after you decided to make some distasteful statements about my upbringing. I wish you well, thanks and regards, Sonakshi Sinha.'
Shatrughan Sinha is as miffed as his daughter.
"Mere ghar walon par, mere parivaar ke oopar koi ungli uthayega toh main bardasht nahin karunga. Don't test the patience of a patient man," Shatruji tells Subhash K Jha.
"This was a very rewarding year for us. Our daughter Sonakshi married the man she loved. Ek baap ke liye iss se badi khushi kya ho sakti hai? My wife and I are happy about our ladli's life companion.
"I hope Sonakshi's marriage will be forever, just like her parent's marriage. Poonam and I have been happily married for 45 years."
"The political victory and the paternal victory gave me reason to feel happy with life. Of course, there will always be the naysayers, the cynics hurling taunts. We like to ignore these elements. You must have noticed I haven't even mentioned any names. I don't want to give the stone-pelters any attention. We all know they do what they do to get noticed."
At such a time when all seems blissful for the Sinha parivar, why this controversy?
"Hurling a pebble into a tranquil happy river, yeh hum logon ki aadat hai. I am not giving any important to the spoilsports. We don't need to prove anything to anyone. Ek sawaal se kissi insaan ya parivar ka wajood nahin taiy hota hai."
Now, Mukesh Khanna clarifies his intentions.
Taking to his Instagram stories, he writes, 'I am surprised you took so much time to react. I knew I was antagonising you by taking your name from that incident in the famous Karodpati show. But I had no malicious intention to malign you or your father who is my senior and I have a very cordial relationship with him.
'My only intention was to react on today's generation, which is called Gen-Z by elders, which has become slaves to today's Google world and Mobile phones. Their knowledge is limited to Wikipedia and social interactions on You tube. And here I had a Hi-Fi case in front of me of yours which I thought I could use to teach others.
'Fathers, sons, daughters. To tell them that we have a huge and vast knowledge preserved in our Culture, Sanskriti and History which every youth of today should know. And just not know but feel proud about it. Thats all.
'And yes I regret that I talked about it in than one interview of mine. Point noted. It will not be repeated. Be assured. Take care.'
