In a moment that sparked widespread concern, Babil Khan, son of late actor Irrfan, posted a series of emotional videos on Instagram Stories on Saturday. The now-deleted clips made their way to Reddit, showing him opening up about his experience in the entertainment industry.

“Bollywood is the most fakest, fakest, fakest industry that I’ve ever ever been a part of. But there are few people that want Bollywood to be better... I got to show to you so much more, so much more, so much more. I have so much more to give you,” the 26-year-old can be heard saying.

In another video, he mentioned some of his contemporaries: “I just want you guys to know that there are people like Shanaya Kapoor, Ananya Panday, Arjun Kapoor, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Raghav Juyal, Adarsh Gourav and Arijit Singh. There are so many more names. Bollywood is so f*****.”

Even as he deleted and later reinstated his profile with 1.2M followers, several celebs came out to lend support (see right), with actor Harshvardhan Rane advising him to “stay away from parties”.

Filmmaker Sai Rajesh shared a lengthy note on Instagram criticizing the outburst and subsequent statement: “It feels like only those whose names were mentioned in his video deserve respect — and the rest of us are just fools for standing by him all this while? ...I genuinely wanted to stand by him even until an hour ago. But if you’re taking us for granted, that stops here. These sympathy games won’t work on us anymore. A sincere apology is the least you owe us.”

Babil replied, claiming Sai “really broke my heart”: “After everything I’ve given to you... Complete physical atrocity to my body just so I can do justice to his character, I gave him my soul, rejected everything that came in my way for 2 years, anything and everything he needed for 500 days of my life.”

He added, “Man, I had bugs in my beard because he needed that in the character. I gave him my laughter while I held back my tears. I slit my f****** wrist for him.”

Babil is reported to star in the remake of Sai’s  Telugu film Baby (2023). Babil later deleted his comments and Sai, his post.

On Sunday, Babil’s team issued a statement: “Babil has earned immense love and appreciation for his work, as well as for his openness about his mental health journey. Like anyone else, Babil is allowed to have difficult days, and this was one of them. We want to reassure all his well-wishers that he is safe and will be feeling better soon. That said, a video of Babil has been widely misinterpreted and taken out of context.”

The note further read, “In the clip, Babil was sincerely acknowledging a few of his peers whom he believes are making meaningful contributions to the evolving landscape of Indian cinema. His mention... came from a place of genuine admiration for their authenticity, passion, and efforts to restore credibility and heart in the industry.”