Mumbai, Sept 10 (ANI): Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan said on Wednesday while apologizing for his wife Jaya Bachchan's remarks that were deemed anti-Maharashtrian by some political parties that we are ready for any punishment if found guilty.
"I do not think we have said or done anything negative but we will leave it to the State," he said in a news conference in Mumbai today.
"We will wait for the investigation report and I am prepared to go to jail if I have committed a crime. If after our apology the matter still persists it becomes a problem of law and order, it is for the administration to take care," Bachchan said.
"I have already apologised and expressed regret. The matter has now reached the State level," he added.
Maharashtra's Deputy Home Minister R. R. Patil has said that they will investigate what Jaya has said.
Bachchan said me and my wife had already apologized for the comments.
He said he had no problem with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and reffered to him as a "friend".
the leader who said his party would not allow the release of any films starring members of the Bachchan family for Jaya's alleged anti-Marathi remarks.
When asked if he would meet Raj, the actor said, "He has given me enough respect and I would like to give him the same respect."
Bachchan, whose film 'The Last Lear' releases on Friday, had expressed his apology on his blog as well on Wednesday.
He also said he did not expect an apology from Raj for his comments against his wife.
"I expect nothing. We are a peace-loving family," Bachchan said.
Amitabh Bachchan and his family had faced a boycott threat of their films after angering the MNS, which recently protested against millions of migrant workers in Maharashtra.
Bachchan, who hails from Uttar Pradesh and found fame and fortune in Mumbai, has become a lightning rod for critics, who say immigrants have sidelined the local people from the Maharashtra.
The latest row erupted after Bachchan''s actress-politician wife Jaya Bachchan spoke in Hindi at a Bollywood function in Mumbai on Saturday, prompting Thackeray to issue the boycott threat.
Bachchan said she would speak in Hindi as her family hailed from a state where the language is widely spoken. Hindi is also the national language.
The remark irked MNS, which announced a boycott of films starring any member of the Bachchan family, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya, their son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.
The film industry too, on Monday, closed ranks to stand behind the Bachchans.
"Mumbai does not belong to people who speak one language only. No one can force a ban on our films," said T P Agarwal, president of the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association.
"This goondaraj has to be stopped," said Pahlaj Nihalani, president of the Association of Motion Pictures and Television Programme Producers.
Earlier, television reports had said MNS party workers in Mumbai tore down posters of Amitabh Bachchan''s "The Last Lear," a film slated for release on Friday.
Last week, some party activists were arrested for vandalising shops in the city after owners failed to put up signboards in Marathi language.
Earlier this year, MNS workers in Maharashtra were accused of intimidation, damaging vehicles and beating up taxi drivers, who are mostly migrants.
Less than 50 percent of Mumbai''s 17 million residents are Maharashtrians.
Many hail from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. (ANI)
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