"Chak De! India changed Hindu coach's identity..." Annu Kapoor's comment stirs debate

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 24 : Veteran film actor Annu Kapoor recently stirred up a controversy after his comments on Shah Rukh Khan's Chak De! India went viral.
Kapoor specifically pointed to the popular film Chak De! India said that Shah Rukh Khan's character, Kabir Khan, was originally based on the coach Mir Ranjan Negi. He claimed that the filmmakers deliberately changed the character to a Muslim.
"The main character in Chak De! India is based on a famous coach, Negi Saab. But in India, they want to show a Muslim as a good character and make fun of a Pandit (Hindu priest). This is something old, where they use the idea of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb (Hindu-Muslim unity) to put a label on it," Kapoor told ANI.
Chak De! India is a 2007 Bollywood sports drama film about Shah Rukh Khan's character Kabir Khan.
In the film, Kabir, (played by Shah Rukh) a former Indian men's hockey player, is accused of betraying his country after losing an important match against Pakistan. To redeem his reputation, he becomes the coach of the Indian women's hockey team, which is struggling and not taken seriously.
Annu Kapoor is known for being part of movies such as 'Mandi', 'Utsav ', 'Mr. India', 'Tezaab', 'Ram Lakhan', 'Ghayal', 'Hum', 'Darr', 'Sardar', 'Om Jai Jagadish', 'Aitraaz' and '7 Khoon Maaf', among others. He also does a Radio show, titled Suhaana Safar With Annu Kapoor. Kapoor has directed several plays. He also directed a feature film 'Abhay', starring Nana Patekar. The actor also hosted the popular singing show 'Antakshari'.