With the rise of #BoycottBollywood on social media, actor Suniel Shetty urged Uttar Pradesh state chief Yogi Adityanath to stop the trend and change people's perception of Bollywood and actors.
He also called on the state chief to take the matter up and speak with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the trend is not good for the film industry.
"We are not only about crime or drugs, but it's us who make India proud in the world with our music and art. If you speak to Prime Minister then it will be helpful," Shetty said.
"Today people think that Bollywood is not a good place, but we have made such good films here. I was a part of one such film too, when I did Border," he added.
Shetty expressed his concerns and said, "There is one rotten apple everywhere, but you can’t count all of us like that only. It pains me to tell you that we have this stigma but 99% of us are not like that. We don’t do drugs all day, and we don’t do wrong work. We are associated with good work."
Several big movies by Bollywood superstars have faced the #BoycottBollywood trend, including the upcoming "Pathaan" starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, actor Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan's "Laal Singh Chaddha," Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar's "Raksha Bandhan," as well as Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt's "Brahmastra," among others.
Shetty urged people not to target actors and their movies, as hundreds of thousands of people's livelihoods are based on the industry and they are affected by such trends.
"Boycotting is not a solution. Films are affected already, let's not harm everyone. We all need to come together. We are already competing internationally, so we should not fight within," Shetty stated.
State chief Yogi, who is on a two-day visit to Mumbai, interacted with many film industry personalities to discuss film production opportunities at the upcoming Film City in the state.