Filmmaker Kabir Khan was on Wednesday heckled at Karachi airport for making “anti-Pakistan” films, with one of the protesters hurling a shoe at him. The Phantom director was in the city to attend a marketing seminar.

Following the incident, Khan took to Twitter to appeal to the media “on both sides” to not “give them [the protesters] the attention they want”. He said, “Twelve screaming lunatics with a mobile phone camera is not news.”

The incident was condemned by others in the industry, including by noted filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, who said films should not be “taken in bad taste” as they were a work of fiction.