Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has come out in support of stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra after the latter was banned from four airlines post his diatribe against a TV journalist on an IndiGo flight.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has lent support to comedian Kunal Kamra by not flying in IndiGo Airlines. He chose Vistara instead. “No @IndiGo6E.. on @airvistara .. in solidarity with @kunalkamra88,” Kashyap tweeted on Monday.
Kashyap came out in support of Kamra after the latter was banned from four airlines including IndiGo, Air India, GoAir and SpiceJet. Kamra was banned after his in-flight encounter with a TV journalist during an IndiGo flight a few days ago.
During the flight, Kamra had approached the news anchor and unleashed a barrage of questions at him over the latter’s coverage of national affairs and the suicide of Rohith Vemula in particular. Vemula was a Dalit activist and scholar at Hyderabad University.
After Kamra’s diatribe, IndiGo banned the comedian from flying for six months. In an interview to The Telegraph, Kashyap, who was in Kolkata for an event on Monday, spoke about his decision to boycott IndiGo.
“I was booked on IndiGo by the organisers. After Kamra was banned, I told the organisers I will not fly IndiGo. I told them I will not fly this airline because I thought the ban was very unreasonable. My thing is: there is nothing I can do about it. It does not make much of a difference. But as I wanted to register my dissent, I thought that I would not fly IndiGo. I want to fly Vistara.
“The IndiGo flight was on Monday afternoon and the Vistara flight was in the morning. They (the organisers) informed (me) that to fly Vistara, you have to wake up at 4am. I said, ‘I will wake up at 4am, but I will not fly IndiGo’,” Kashyap explained.