[Dhaka Tribune] US television studio ABC has apologies to Indian fans of its crime drama "Quantico" after an episode featuring Indian nationalists trying to frame Pakistain in a terrorist plot sparked online outrage against Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra, who plays a lead role in the show."The episode has stirred a lot of emotion, much of which is unfairly aimed at Priyanka Chopra, who didn’t create the show, nor does she write or direct it," said Walt Disney-owned ABC in its statement.
Chopra, 35, is a revered Bollywood star in India, admired for her ability to cross over and achieve success in Hollywood, which has been rare for Indian actors.
After the recent "Quantico" episode, Chopra has faced online attacks at home, and even some calls to boycott her work and the brands that she endorses, including South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co.
Others called on the government to black out the scene where Chopra, who stars as an FBI agent in the series, holds up sacred Hindu prayer beads as evidence that the plotter in the episode, planning to detonate a nuclear bomb in New York, was an Indian nationalist.
"The myth of Hindu terror, by a fake story, enters American television with the help of Priyanka Chopra. Would any Pak actor betray Pakistain or Islam the way she betrays India and Hinduism?", David Frawley, a Hindu scholar based in the United States, tweeted.