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Veteran actor Rakesh Bedi has now come out of the shell he kept over the row of comments in the aftermath of a video of the trailer launch of Dhurandhar, which went viral. The 71-year-old can be seen in the clip leaning forward to meet his 20-year-old co-star Sara Arjun, with some netizens stating that it appeared to be a kiss on the shoulder and naming the incident as creepy and inappropriate.

In a Red FM podcast, Bedi explained that he has always treated Sara as his father to her, and she appears in the same film as his daughter. I used to come hugging her and hugging her forehead like a daughter whenever she came on set. "I would simply tell him, 'We are going to have a good scene; do it, do not worry, we will do it all together,'" I would tell her, he explained.

According to Bedi, the parents of Sara were also present at the circumstances and asked why people could not understand such an ordinary and loving greeting. The angry word was discounted by him on the ground that the fault was in the eyes of the beholder. Individuals only require a motivation to communicate.

The incident has split social media, with most people still in support of the senior actor and others against the gesture. Not deterred by the movie as it keeps creating hype, Bedi, who portrays Jameel Jamali in Dhurandhar 2 by Aditya Dhar, is undeterred.