Mumbai, (PTI) Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday slammed author Shobha De for her tweet on Indian Olympians at Rio and said the comment was "disheartening."

De had mocked Indian athletes, saying that their aim was only to click selfies and return without any medal. Her tweet angered many who slammed and trolled the writer.

When asked to comment on the matter, Kangana told reporters here, "It is a very disturbing thing to say to people, who are representing us. It can be also a very personal opinion but being such a credible author and a powerful woman who people look up to, for someone like that saying this is disheartening..."

The 29-year-old "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" star hopes the athletes do not get disheartened and do their best.

"It is not a good news, for sure. I hope our athletes don't get disheartened and we need to do our best."

The actress was speaking at the launch of a short film on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, titled "Don't let her go".

De received backlash from several quarters. Following the criticism, she came up with another tweet, putting the blame on officials and not the athletes.

"Official apathy main reason why we fare so poorly during every Olympics, not just Rio. Difficult for athletes to 'compete' with this hurdle," she tweeted.