Sunil Shetty Feels the Right Vote Can Swing in Reforms

On November 26, Sunil Shetty had been shooting for Ratan Jain's De Dhana Dhan and reached home at around 8.30 pm, when he heard about the terrorist attacks.

He says, "I've lost so many friends and have been attending five condolence meetings in a day. These are people who led simple lives. Aashish Choudhary's sister and brother-in-law dying leaving behind two children — it's horrific! Vijay Salaskar, Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Unnikrishnan are big heroes; so are the staff at the Taj and Oberoi hotels, including Karambir Kang (the Taj GM), who risked their lives to save many."

New lot

The actor feels a simple way of bringing in reforms is to vote. "We should vote for people who matter — a new, young, dedicated lot. Most media — electronic and print have done a brilliant job. Now they should not let people forget that we must vote for change." Sunil says the 26/11 terrorist attacks won't stop him from going to the Taj and Oberoi again. "I will be the first to go when Taj and Oberoi reopen. I strongly believe the minute they want to paralyse the city, we shouldn't allow it." Sunil doesn't believe in going to war against Pakistan for bringing terrorists to book. "War is never the option. If we want to hurt them, we should do it economically. I also believe terrorism has no religion. We can't blame Muslims for an act like this. They are definitely misled."

Amitabh Bachchan Salutes the Forces: Excerpts From the Big B's Blog

"My pain has been the sight and plight of my innocent and vulnerable and completely insecure countrymen, facing the wrath of this terror attack. And my anger has been at the ineptitude of the authorities that have been ordained to look after us. And of course I have had the greatest pride in those from the forces that have and continue to fight for our freedom. Brilliant officers and police personnel have laid down their lives for us. I can only but salute them and respect their sincerity in the call of duty.

I have been at the receiving end of a million calls and an equal number of sms's the whole day to come live on TV or on the print media to express my views on the current situation and am being lured by words such as 'we need you to speak to express solidarity and for the people to maintain their calm'.This is disgusting !! I will NOT do that. TELL ME AND ORDER ME INSTEAD THAT WE REQUIRE FOR EVERY INDIAN TO GET UP AND WALK INTO THE FACILITIES WHERE THE ACTION IS ON AND I WILL BE THE FIRST TO WALK. But, please do not ask me to come and make sloppy statements that will do nothing more than create viewer interest in said particular channel ! I respect what the media is doing in serving the nation with its continuous information bulletins and I admire the brave and diligent manner in which they have devoted themselves to the cause. But what they expect me do I find against my ethics and want to be excused from it.

And for God's sake, let us stop reiterating that cliched "Sprit of Mumbai" retort. Yes Mumbai is strong and resilient and shall not be cowed down by any such occurrence. But let us not conveniently use it as our cover sheet, pull it over our heads and go off to sleep. Because that is what has been happening every time. Incidents of grave disaster have continued to be camouflaged with 'oh, this is Mumbai, we have a great spirit, we will spring back'. Fine, we will, of course. But who is assuring us that the disaster will not !!As an Indian, I need to live in my own land, on my own soil with dignity and without fear. And I need an assurance on that.I am ashamed to say this and not afraid to share this now with the rest of the cyber world, that last night, as the events of the terror attack unfolded in front of me I did something for the first time and one that I had hoped never ever to be in a situation to do.

Before retiring for the night, I pulled out my licensed .32 revolver, loaded it and put it under my pillow. For a very disturbed sleep."

— Amitabh Bachchan