On 27th November (Monday), the Director of the film Chhapaak, Meghna Gulzar admitted that Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone’s controversial visit to JNU just three days before the film’s theatrical release badly impacted the fate of their movie.
Speaking at the Express Adda, she stated that Deepika’s controversial visit to JNU took the conversation away from the subject of the movie.
While referring to Deepika’s JNU visit in 2020, Meghna Gulzar said, “I am sure that the answer is pretty obvious. Yes, of course, it made a dent on the film. Because the conversation went from acid violence, which I intended the film to amplify, to somewhere else. So, of course, it impacted the film. There is no denying that.”
Released in January 2020, Chhapaak was a biopic film based on the life of Laxmi Agarwal, an acid attack survivor and activist for other acid attack victims. Deepika had also made her debut in production with Chhapaak. The film was made on a budget of Rs 50 crore but it only grossed Rs 55.44 crore at the box office.
Deepika’s controversial JNU visit in 2020
Notably, Deepika Padukone participated in a protest held by Left-wing students at Jawaharlal Nehru University on 7th January 2020, just three days before the release of the film Chhapaak. The left-wing students had come under attack by masked goons, in which the JNUSU president was also injured. Altough left-wing student unions had claimed that they were attacked by ABVP students, the latter denied those allegations.
Strikingly, a large number of ABVP students were also attacked by left-wing groups and the latter were preventing students from registering for the winter semester.
During her JNU visit, Deepika was seen standing behind JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, who was later booked by police for leading a mob that had vandalised the server room of JNU. Though she didn’t address the protestors, her visit in response to the protest against the 2020 JNU attack and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act created a social media uproar.
Several hashtags like #BoycottChhapaak and #BlockDeepika and others trended on Twitter and other social media portals. Several users calling to boycott her film highlighted the incidents that transpired at JNU and how she displayed a biased stance through her visit.
The violence in the JNU campus against which the left-wing students staged a protest, in which Deepika Padukone participated, was the culmination of several days of conflict between left-wing groups and students wanting to continue studying. The left-wing groups had been calling for a boycott of class and protesting against fee hikes.
As part of their ‘protest’, they had physically prevented students from registering for the next semester. They also had damaged the server room and disabled internet services on the campus and prevented students from registering online.
A large group of left-wing students had also assaulted students wanting to register and ABVP members, and as a result, several ABVP leaders in JNU were admitted to AIIMS.
