Farhan Akhtar calls media discriminatory towards Hrithik Roshan in open letter

Just when we thought the debate on Kangana Ranaut's criticism on Indian film industry's seething nepotism and sexism was dying, the spat between the actress and her alleged ex Hrithik Roshan has divided Bollywood yet again.

Hrithik in his latest interview on Indian television maintained he never dated Kangana, adding that the Simran actor was speaking to an impostor on the said emails. Ever since the interview was aired, Bollywood celebs have started weighing in on the issue ─ the latest being Farhan Akhtar.

Watch the interview here:

The Rock On actor took to social media the same day and posted an open letter on his Facebook defending Roshan. In his letter, Akhtar says the media has been discriminatory to Roshan, and that, in this case, it has been unfairly biased towards "the woman".

Akhtar mentions he founded MARD (Men Against Rape & Discrimination) in 2013 to advocate against gender violence and highlight "discrimination against women and the LGBTI community", and writes, "Although it is true that in most cases it is a woman that has been wronged, there is a difference between 'most' and 'all'."

While he finds it "unacceptable" how "in some cases of rape, a section of society has blamed the victims...there have been cases where men have been stalked, harassed and falsely accused".

Akhtar further accuses journalists to have given more space to Kangana's narrative "without having or presenting any evidence to back the claims being made by the woman".

He further claims "apparently [Ranuat] has avoided, till date, submitting her personal communication devices citing some reason or the other" to the cyber crime authorities, calling it an "obstruction of justice".

The Lucknow Central actor says people wouldn't have "given the man the benefit of doubt by believing him" if the genders were reversed in the scenario.

Other Bollywood celebs have also expressed support for Akhtar's statement with Hrithik’s Kaabil costar Yami Gautam who called the director's letter "a must read", and warned the media from turning the fight between the two actors a "gender war".

"If the gender-card is allowed to take precedence over facts and objectivity, it will be a serious blow to the on-going efforts of getting women an equal standing with the opposite sex," Gautam said.

"Let the facts be unearthed and until then, let’s reserve our judgements," she added.

There hasn't been a response from Kangana ever since the interview was aired. However, Kangana's sister Rangoli called out Akhtar in her tweets, accusing him and his father Javed Akhtar biased towards the Roshans.

Standing by her sister, Rangoli accused Akhtar for spreading misinformation about Ranaut's alleged lack of cooperation in the investigation, saying it is misleading.

"Even if [the] entire industry stands against her she will still survive because she is the chosen one," Rangoli said.