Babil Khan breaks silence on criticism from Sai Rajesh, saying, 'I slit my f****** wrist for him,' in now-deleted comment

The late actor Irrfan Khan's son Babil became embroiled in controversy after posting a very personal video to Instagram, which he subsequently explained was misconstrued. Filmmaker Sai Rajesh, who supposedly collaborated with Babil on the Hindi version of his Telugu film Baby, had a strong reaction to the videos, in which the actor sobbed and mentioned several Bollywood actors.

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Babil Khan's controversial Instagram video

A report from Peeping Moon states that Babil was to lead in Sai Rajesh's Baby adaptation. Ananya Panday, Shanaya Kapoor, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Raghav Juyal, Adarsh Gourav, Arijit Singh, and Arjun Kapoor were among the actors mentioned in a video posted by the actor on his Instagram Story on Sunday. Many saw the video as an attack on the industry and the people he referenced; Babil took a brief break from social media but then came back, claiming his intentions were misunderstood.

"Like anyone else, Babil is allowed to have difficult days – and this was one of them. We want to reassure all his well-wishers that he is safe and will be feeling better soon... That said, a video of Babil has been widely misinterpreted and taken out of context. In the clip, Babil was sincerely acknowledging a few of his peers whom he believes are making meaningful contributions to the evolving landscape of Indian cinema," his loved ones and teammates explained in a statement they released.

His "genuine admiration" was the driving force behind his mention of these artists, as stated in the statement.

Filmmaker Sai Rajesh's strong reaction to Babil Khan's video

Nevertheless, Sai Rajesh was not pleased with the statement and responded with a harshly worded message on Instagram Stories (and a brief post to his feed). Despite its eventual deletion, Reddit users captured and circulated the post. Sai expressed his dissatisfaction with Babil's team's handling of the situation in that post.

"To Babil Khan's team", he wrote, "Do you really think we’re that naive to just walk away silently? What kind of attitude are we being subjected to? It feels like only those whose names were mentioned in his video deserve respect — and the rest of us are just fools for standing by him all this while?"

If you’re making them feel valued just because he gave them a shoutout and ignoring the rest of us – then yes, we do deserve an apology for how things have been handled. I genuinely wanted to stand by him even until an hour ago. But if you're taking us for granted, that stops here. These sympathy games won't work on us anymore. A sincere apology is the least you owe us. Say it, and let's move on," he stated, continuing his demand for an apology.

Consequently, Babil vented his frustrations in the comments area of the now-deleted story.

Babil Khan's heartfelt comments on his sacrifices for Sai Rajesh's project

"You really broke my heart," he peered into his note, "after everything I’ve given to you. @satish_naidu1982 2 years of my life, complete physical atrocity to my body just so I can do justice to his character; I gave him my soul, rejected everything that came in my way for 2 years, anything and everything he needed, for 500 days of my life."

In addition to living in filth and enduring agony and suffering for the role, the actor went on to say, "Not to mention the pain and the suffering I put in my soul and lived in filth just to make sure Sir @sairazesh is happy with the character. It's okay now. I'll let my work speak. Goodbye. Man, I had bugs in my beard because he needed that in the character. I gave him my laughter while I held back my tears. I slit my f***ing wrist for him."

Not long after that, Sai Rajesh's post and Babil's comments were also deleted.

Some people on social media were sympathetic to Babil's vulnerability and offered him support, while others questioned how the incident was handled. Young actors are increasingly dealing with mental health issues and industry pressures, and this incident highlights some of those issues.