Daily Times

Actress Twinkle Khanna on Sunday responded to a message by an ‘enraged citizen’ who wrote to her about her decision to auction off a piece of costume worn by her husband Akshay Kumar in the film, Rustom. The message ended with a threat of violence, to which Twinkle responded by saying that she will consider taking legal action.

The original message was shared by Sandeep Unnithan, a journalist who identified and claimed that the author, Lt Col Sandeep Ahlawat, was ‘one of the finest men in uniform’ he knew. It was to Unnithan’s tweet that Twinkle responded.

“As a society do we really think it’s all right to threaten a woman with bodily harm for trying to raise funds for a charity by auctioning a uniform used in a movie, a piece of film memorabilia ? I will not retaliate with violent threats but by taking legal action!” Twinkle wrote.

Here is the message:

“Dear Twinkle Khanna

I am not on Instagram so giving you a rebuttal on Facebook. Your idea of auctioning the costume your husband donned in the movie Rustom for raising money for your NGO is as sick as your funnybones jokes/book/blog. Your Instagram post on the following idea is flawed on the following grounds.

1. What your husband wore in movie Rustom was a costume and not uniform.

2. Indian Armed Forces wives (Army, Navy, Airforce) do not auction their husbands uniforms.

3. Uniform is not a piece of cloth that a producer hands over to cinestars for enacting roles and make some quick bucks. The permission to wear the uniform comes from the office of the President of India. Uniform is earned with your blood, toil and sweat which is placed on the mortal remains of a soldier along with the tricolour.

4. If you even make a feeble attempt to auction this piece of costume in the garb of ‘UNIFORM’ then I will drag you to the court. You may like to check my credentials. You touch our honour and we will give you a bloody nose.

Warm regards,

An enraged citizen!!”

Twinkle and Akshay had announced that they would auction the costume for the cause of animal welfare. The announcement was met with criticism on social media. Rustom is a 2016 period thriller about the Nanavati murder case.

Published in Daily Times, April 30^th 2018.