Abhishek Bachchan speaks up for Shah Rukh Khan

Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan has spoken up in support of superstar Shah Rukh Khan who has angered the Shiv Sena for supporting inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL teams.

The actor is the first from the Bachchan family to have broken the silence over the issue which has taken the Hindi film industry by storm after the political party threatened to stall the screening of Khan's film My Name Is Khan in Mumbai and tore up posters of him.

"All that has been happening over the past few days is very unfortunate and sad! I believe that sports, arts & culture should be above politics," Abhishek wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

"My family and I have faced many such incidents in the past. And all I wish for is peace and harmony to prevail over all citizens," he added.

Abhishek is the latest of the many of Bollywood celebrities who have expressed their concern about the issue on Twitter.

Actors like Preity Zinta, Riteish Deshmukh, Anupam Kher, Gul Panag, Ranvir Shorey have pledged their support to Khan.

Filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt and Anubhav Sinha have asked the
industry to put up an united front in the issue.

Actress Shabana Azmi has also spoken out, telling a national TV channel, "I don't think anything is said that genuinely offends the political parties. They are concerned about their sagging political career, so this becomes a very easy peg to hang their sagging career, because they get into the news."