Actor Mansoor Ali Khan, who is in the midst of controversy over his ‘rape scene’ coments regarding his co-star in Leo Trisha, has come out with a revolting explanation, dismissing the incident as a joke. “Unlike in my older movies, I did not get a chance to act in this film [Leo] with the heroine. I expressed my unhappiness through comedy,” he said and also claimed that the video had been cut to create controversy. “But I am not the kind of person to be afraid of such things. They have represented it wrongly to Trisha,” he said.
In a recent press meet, Mansoor, who is known for his villain roles in Tamil cinema, had said that he’d hoped to have a rape scene in Leo like he’d had in older Tamil films with actors like Kushbhu and Roja. “They are not letting me have rape scenes. I was really hopeful when I knew that I was acting with Trisha. I thought aha, there must be ‘bedroom’ scenes,” Mansoor said during the press meet. What he said after that is too distasteful to describe.
Trisha had condemned Mansoor's remarks calling it “sexist, disrespectful, misogynistic, repulsive and in bad taste”. She said that she was grateful that she did not have to share screen space with someone "as pathetic as him" and that she will make sure it stays that way for the rest of her film career.
Leo, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, has Vijay and Trisha in lead roles. Mansoor Ali Khan plays a supporting character in the film, but does not have any scenes with Trisha.
After several celebrities condemned his remarks, Mansoor brought out his statement. He claimed. “Because I have said that I will contest in the upcoming elections for a well-known party, somebody is deliberately creating a problem. In truth, I only spoke highly of that girl [Trisha].” It is unknown which party Mansoor is referring to. He had previously, in 1999, contested for Puthiya Tamilagam. In the 2019 general elections, he stood as the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) candidate for Dindigul. He lost both times. He also stood as an independent candidate in Coimbatore’s Thondamuthur constituency during the 2021 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
Mansoor further claimed, “Heroines who acted with me in the past have become MPs and MLAs. Or they have married businessmen and settled down.” It is unclear which women actors Mansoor was referring to, but in his controversial speech, he had also made a distasteful reference to former actor Kushbhu Sundar who is currently a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the National Commission for Women (NCW).
“I have always been respectful to fellow women actors,” Mansoor said, adding that attempts to create controversy about him will not work. “It is very clear that an edited video has been shown to Trisha in order to make her angry [with me]. There are so many problems in the world. Go mind your business,” he added.
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