The horrifying terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on April 22 has shaken the entire nation. Around 27 civilians lost their lives while they were enjoying the pristine beauty of Pahalgam.
At least twenty-six people, mostly civilians, were reportedly shot by terrorists during the attack, which occurred on Tuesday afternoon near Pahalgam. Additionally, around 20 others were injured. The incident took place at approximately 3 PM, when terrorists descended from the mountains in the Baisaran Valley and opened fire on tourists who frequent the area.
Several celebrities have strongly condemned the attack. Akshay Kumar, who is currently busy with the promotions of his recently released film Kesari Chapter 2, also reacted to the Pahalgam terrorist attack.
Akshay Kumar strongly reacts to Pahalgam terror attack
On Saturday, during a special screening of the film, Akshay Kumar and R. Madhavan surprised the audience by making an appearance and interacting with the crowd. Several videos of Akshay Kumar and R. Madhavan interacting with the audience in the theater have surfaced on social media.
In the video, Akshay Kumar spoke about the inhumane, heinous terrorist attack. He said, "Unfortunately, aaj bhi humare sab ke dil mein woh gussa phir se jaga hai. Aap sab log achhi tarah se jaante hain main kis cheez ki baat kar raha hoon. Aaj bhi hum un terrorists ko ek hi baat kehna chahenge, jo maine iss film mein kahi hai. Kya?"
("Unfortunately, even today, we all feel that anger rising again. You all know very well what I am talking about. Today, too, we want to say the same thing to the terrorists that I said in the film. What?")
In response, the audience shouted out the dialogue from the film in unison: "F*** you." Akshay nodded in agreement.
Netizens called out Akshay Kumar for his insensitivity and tone-deaf nature in promoting his film Kesari in the wake of the tragedy. Some even opined that if Akshay truly wanted to condemn the incident, he would have recorded a video.
A user wrote, "This is really insensitive & tone deaf. If he cared about that horrible tragedy & wanted to address that, he could have given a serious speech, expressing his thoughts. But he is using that incident to promote his movie's tagline ♀️. Insensitive is an understatement. This is shameless..."
Another wrote, "It's pathetic! Using a tragedy which is gonna stay with us Indians for long just for the promotions of your movie with dead sales is bloody inhuman!.."
Earlier, Akshay Kumar had taken to X (formerly Twitter) to express his anger and grief, writing, "Horrified to know of the terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam. Sheer evil to kill innocent people like this. Prayers for their families."
Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar's Kesari Chapter 2 has performed impressively at the box office, surpassing the Rs 50 crore mark.. The film was released on April 18, 2025.
Kesari Chapter 2 is inspired by the book The Case That Shook the Empire by Raghu Palat and Pushpa Palat. The film follows C. Sankaran Nair's battle against the British Raj to expose the truth behind the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, with Akshay Kumar portraying Nair.
