Speaking about Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's take on the Muslim community, 'Thackeray' writer and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, "Bala saab was never an anti-Muslim man." He added, casting Nawazuddin Siddiqui to play Bal Thackeray in the biopic was the "biggest salute" to "the ideology of Bala saab". Sanjay further said 'Thackeray' was not a "propaganda film".