Filmmaker Priyadarshan has addressed the controversy surrounding his recent remark about actor Rajpal Yadav, clarifying that his comment about the actor’s “poor education” was misunderstood and never meant as an insult.
In an exclusive conversation with HT City, the veteran director explained that he was not referring to Rajpal Yadav’s academic qualifications. Instead, he said he was speaking in a broader sense about awareness and street smartness.
Explaining his perspective, Priyadarshan said, “Actually, I didn’t mean that. See, education is something we learn from the street and something we learn from books too. Now I just meant that maybe because education is also awareness. This is what I meant.”
The director further elaborated that his comment was about understanding people and situations in life rather than formal education. “Maybe he comes from a village and the people in the village are so innocent, they don’t understand… you should be able to discriminate between right people and wrong people. That is education in a very broad way,” he said.
Earlier, Rajpal Yadav had reacted to the remark and dismissed the claim, saying that the statement about his education was incorrect. Responding to the reports, the actor said, “This is completely wrong. Priyanji doesn’t know me. I am a well-educated guy.”
Priyadarshan, however, reiterated that he never intended to demean the actor and was only referring to Rajpal Yadav’s simplicity and innocence. “I didn’t mean to insult him or anything. I said that because I’ve never seen such an innocent person in my life like Rajpal… innocence comes out of lack of education in the broader sense,” he clarified.
The filmmaker’s explanation comes amid online discussions about the comment, with fans debating whether the statement had been misinterpreted. Priyadarshan’s clarification now aims to clear the air and emphasise that his words were meant to describe innocence rather than question the actor’s education.
