Actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra is known for giving Bollywood hits such as Dhadkan, Life in a... Metro and Baazigar, to name a few. On Monday, the Celebrity Big Brother 5 winner landed herself in a soup for recommending George Orwell’s Animal Farm, published in 1945, to children.
In an article in The Times of India, she was quoted to say: “Books like Lord of the Rings (LOTR) and Harry Potter as part of the syllabus is a great move because it cultivates imagination and creativity at a young age. They should include books like Little Women, as it encourages respect towards women at a young age. Even a book like Animal Farm can teach the little ones to love and care for animals.”
Shetty’s unintended hilarious comment was part of an article on what Bollywood celebrity parents thought about modern classics such as Harry Potter, Tintin and Amar Chitra Katha being included as part of the English syllabus for Indian Certificate of Secondary Education students.
Animal Farm, of course, is an allegorical and dystopian novella. In the book, which is a devastating critique of communism, dozens of animals get their throats ripped out by trained dogs. The socio-political book has allusions to revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, economist Karl Marx, theorist Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. According to Orwell, the book is a reflection on the events that led up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union.
Social media users decided that this was a good opportunity to indulge in some faux lit crit.
— joybhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) November 28, 2016
David Copperfield is about a guy who grew copper in his field. pic.twitter.com/EBmGYcJEqL
— Scotchy (@scotchism) November 28, 2016
The Hunger Games is a great series on Karwa Chauth. #ShilpaShettyReviews
— Nirwa Mehta (@nirwamehta) November 28, 2016
"Fifty Shades of Grey is an amazing coloring book.Children will love it"#ShilpaShettyReviews
— Fats (@a_bit_too_much) November 28, 2016
Half Blood Prince is about a prince with haemophilia #ShilpaShettyReviews
— PT (@peeteeonyou) November 28, 2016
“The Hobbit is good. All children should develop good hobbits.” #ShilpaShettyReviews
— Harish Iyengaar (@scaryhairyman) November 28, 2016
Hamlet is a good read too, teaches people about road safety and wearing hamlet #ShilpaShettyReviews
— That Little Feminist (@Vibz_Singh) November 28, 2016
But some Twitter users took a more sympathetic view of the gaffe.
If it gets one person who hasn't read Animal Farm to read it, I'd be happy.
— Kiran Manral (@KiranManral) November 28, 2016
a) I totally believe that Shilpa Shetty had no clue what Animal Farm is all about
— wastrelette (@wastrelette) November 28, 2016
b) Also totally believe that neither did the TOI editor