Deepika Padukone at JNU Protests: Twitter explodes with divided opinion
On Tuesday, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone stood by JNU students during the protests against the masked-mod attack. She was present as the JNUSU leader Kanhaiya Kumar gave a speech at the Sabarmati Hostel.
The ‘Chhapaak’ movie star was in the national capital to promote her upcoming film. On Tuesday evening the actress joined the student’s clan outside JNU campus as they silently protested against the masked-mob attack that took place on Sunday. Deepika Padukone met the students and JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh to express solidarity and concern.
At a time when most A-lister Bollywood celebs are choosing to stay silent on the JNU attack, the actress has shown a great deal of courage by standing up for what is right according to her. Oher Bollywood stars like Taapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashya and Vishal Bhardwaj also joined the silent protests at Carter Road in Mumbai. Deepika’s stand against the brutal act has stirred a Twitter war where some lauded her presence at the JNU campus and few others accused her of supporting the Tukde Tukde Gang. Some Netizens even pointed out her sly means of promoting Meghna Gulzar’s directorial ‘Chhapaak’ that is scheduled to release on 10 January.
Several hashtags like #DeepikaPadukone, #BoycottChhapaak, #IStandWithDeepikaPadukone and #BoycottDeepikaPadukone have been trending on Twitter since Tuesday evening. Currently, the Twitterverse is divided between Deepika haters and those who respect her.
Celebrities like Anurag Kashyap, Konkona Sen Sharma, Atul Khatri and Prakash Raj came out in support of the ‘Padmavat’ actor. Read their tweets.
Thank you @deepikapadukone … thank you for being a true INDIAN .. pic.twitter.com/eHiYNCXA1R
— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) January 7, 2020
Cynics who think @deepikapadukone’s appearance at #JNU is a publicity stunt, remember this: The right wing publicly threatened to chop her nose off, *and* delayed her film’s release, only 2 years ago. Don’t pretend like she isn’t aware of the stakes.
— Aniruddha Guha (@AniGuha) January 7, 2020
Why #boycottdeepikapadukone? Why #boycottchhapaak? Just because Deepika went to JNU against Sunday’s violence? Really guys? Are you now defending violence 🙄#DeepikaPadukone @deepikapadukone
— Manak Gupta (@manakgupta) January 8, 2020
Respect! ❤️ https://t.co/PyLMZ3ILBV
— Konkona Sensharma (@konkonas) January 7, 2020
Rana Ayyub pointed out that Deepika acted quite bravely as she appeared at a politically charged event just two days before the release of her film. Not only is she the lead actor but also a major producer in the film. Evidently, she knows the stakes are highfor her.
Let’s not forget she is also the producer of the films .. stakes are even higher . Mad respect for @deepikapadukone https://t.co/y5CPzSEedU
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) January 7, 2020
There were those high profile Twitterati who spread hate and trolled Deepika for being a part of the event. Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, Payal Rohtagi and Nupur Sharma were amongst others who condemned Deepika’s act.
Shameful 🙏 I thought she was educated and could read and comprehend news 🙏 pic.twitter.com/UcAlUPTgOR #payalrohatgi #boycottbollywood #bycottdeepika
— PAYAL ROHATGI & Team- Bhagwan Ram Bhakts (@Payal_Rohatgi) January 8, 2020
Ram Ram ji 🙏 #DeepikaPadukone father won medals for India and she stands for #BreakingIndia forces. Afterall she proved that she is #AliaBhatt BFF. #boycottchhapaak #DeepikaAtJNU #PayalRohatgi
— PAYAL ROHATGI & Team- Bhagwan Ram Bhakts (@Payal_Rohatgi) January 8, 2020
:@deepikapadukone I usually avoid tweeting to Bollywood but if this is your bid to sell a movie on a woman’s fight by sharing stage with somebody penalised for sexual misconduct (he flashed himself to a woman student at JNU in 2015) then it defeats the very purpose!
— Nupur Sharma (@NupurSharmaBJP) January 7, 2020
RT if you will Boycott Movies of @deepikapadukone for her Support to #TukdeTukdeGang and Afzal Gang pic.twitter.com/LN5rpwjDmT
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) January 7, 2020
A classic case of PR gone wrong. I am sure @foxstarhindi the Producers must be quite worried. https://t.co/1cC5N4TSkt
— Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) January 8, 2020
