'Never Said Sanghi Is Bad Word': Rajinikanth On Aishwaryaa's 'Dad Is Not Sanghi' Statement

Rajinikanth defended his daughter Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth after she addressed those who called the Tamil superstar ‘Sanghi.’ For the unversed, last week, Aishwaryaa was speaking about her upcoming film Laal Salaam and said that her father, Rajinikanth is not a Sanghi. This sparked a massive controversy. On Monday, Rajinikanth addressed the controversy and said that his daughter did not mean ‘Sanghi’ as a bad word.

Speaking with a group of reporters outside the Chennai airport, Rajinikanth said in Tamil, “My daughter never said that Sanghi [the term] was a bad word. She questioned why her father was being branded that way when he is into spirituality.”

Watch the video below:

Last week, Aishwaryaa hosted the audio launch of Lal Salaam at Sri Sairam Institute of Technology in Chennai on January 26. While speaking at the gathering, she addressed those who dubbed Rajinikanth ‘Sanghi.’ She said, “I generally stay away from social media, but my team often tells me what’s happening and keep showing some posts. I used to get angry seeing them. We’re human beings too. In recent times, many people call my father a Sanghi. I didn’t know what it meant. I then asked someone what was the meaning of Sanghi and they said that people who support a particular political party are called Sanghi.”

“I’d like to make it clear here, Rajinikanth is not a Sanghi. If he was, he wouldn’t have done a film like ‘Lal Salaam,'” Aishwarya added. Her statement left Rajinikanth in tears. A video of his reaction had gone viral as well.