DK Sivakumar’s comment during the Bengaluru Film Festival, lambasting poor actor turnout and saying that he knew “how to tighten the nuts,” ignited a row. During the row over his “nuts and bolts” statement on Karnataka actors, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said he is “not God” and will revise his words if they were erroneous.
His comments during the Bengaluru International Film Festival inauguration, during which he criticized the poor turnout of actors and boasted of knowing “how to tighten the nuts and bolts” of the film industry, fanned the flames.
We might not be correct and proper. Let me correct it. I am not God, and if I have done something wrong, I will correct it, but I am speaking in the interest of the (film) industry. I am also from the industry. I have an interest in this industry,” Shivakumar explained to reporters in Bengaluru.
We organized the International Film Festival in Bengaluru, and I am going to organize IFFA (International Indian Film Academy Awards) next year in Bengaluru,” the deputy chief minister further said. Sivakumar’s remark was severely criticized by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which charged that he was ‘threatening’ actors.
BJP leader CN Ashwath Narayan decried the statement, stating that the Congress government in Karnataka is coercing artists to support its political campaign. Being a responsible government, such a threatening remark by those in power, is not appropriate.
The Karnataka Congress government threatened ‘we know how to tighten your bolts and nuts,’ what do you mean by that? Such kind of threat is not justifiable and recommended…We denounce the remark of the deputy chief minister…Ill-treating actors and the Kannada film industry, inviting them to join Congress campaign and their agenda, what is Congress mindset?
