Actor Saqib Saleem Qureshi took a jab at Indian media through an Instagram video on Saturday. In the two minutes and twenty four-second clip, in which he recited his poem titled ‘Papa Kehte Hai’, Saqib specifically slammed news channels and their anchors for alleged biased reporting, fake news propaganda and “media trials”.

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Captioning his post, Saqib said he was working on this piece for a year. The clip opens with a disclaimer that reads, “Resemblance to any person living or dead is because you have seen them around you! We do not wish to offend anyone but trust me these people are deadlier than corona virus! Beware!”

Watch the video here:

In his poem, the ‘Race 3’ actor says in Hindi that since his childhood, his father always told him to watch news to stay informed and educated, so that’s what he did. However, after growing up he realised that news was getting “weirder”, but he continued watching it because his father said so. 

Saqib continues that after becoming an actor, whenever he watched the news, it was far from reality. And now that he knows the reality, he always gets himself popcorn and consumes news as a form of entertainment.

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Referring to what happened with actor Rhea Chakraborty when she was arrested in a drug case related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput‘s death last year, Saqib says,” there’s no bigger punishment than a media trial.” He also added the clip of Rhea getting mobbed by media persons outside the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) office.

Saqib says in the video that there are a few people who are practising true journalism and are not afraid of its consequences, but the majority of journalists are “sold”.

He ends his poetry by saying that now his father has also lost faith in the media. “Now he does not tell me to watch the news. He says there’s no point following it as these people have no religion, no rules. Papa is too cute,” Saqib says. 

Saqib’s IGTV post has been viewed more than 14,000 times in four hours.