Director Atlee recently appeared on Netflix's The Great Indian Kapil Show to promote the upcoming movie Baby John. The rest of the cast of the movie were also present at the episode, including Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi. At the seasonal finale episode while Kapil and his crew were doing their signature jokes and segments, Atlee became the target of the comedian's racist remarks, which left the filmmaker quite upset. But he silenced Kapil with his comeback, when he urged the comedian not to judge people by their looks. Here's what happened.
While joking with the Baby John cast, Kapil asked Atlee, "But, when you get to meet a star for the first time, do they ask, where is Atlee?" taking a direct dig at the filmmaker's looks.
Atlee clapped back, saying "In a way I understood your question. I'll try to answer. I'm actually very thankful to AR Murugadoss sir because he produced my first film. He asked for a script, but he didn't see how I was looking or whether I'm capable of it or not. But, he loved my narration. I think the world should see that. We should not judge by appearance. You have to judge by your heart."
The clip from the episode went viral on social media and Kapil is now facing backlash for his racist remarks.
In another segment of the episode, Kapil made fun of Archana Puran Singh, saying, "Her name is Archana Puran Singh because she is a great admirer of Daku Mohan Singh. There was a man in his gang inspired by which her name was kept."
Atlee took a stand for her too, and said, "Don't pull her leg, she is the only saviour of the show for me. Whenever she laughs, I am going to laugh, because I know nothing, I am waiting for her cue." Archana liked this and replied, "Well said Atlee, you and I are a team now."
Atlee turned producer for Varun Dhawan's upcoming film Baby John, which he is co-producing along with Murad Khetani, Priya Atlee, and Jyoti Deshpande. An adaptation of his superhit film, Theri, the film is scheduled to hit theatres on December 25.