Meghna Gulzar is one of the finest filmmakers in Hindi cinema. Over the years, Gulzar explored and addressed social issues and the nation's pride through her films. The director is now gearing up for her upcoming film Sam Bahadur starring Vicky Kaushal. In an interview with The Indian Express, she opened up about the failure of her last film Chhapaak, which starred Deepika Padukone as an acid attack survivor Laxmi.
Gulzar admitted that Padukone's visit affected Chhapaak's performance at the box office. “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," she said.
When Deepika Padukone visited JNU
In January 2020, Deepika Padukone was in Delhi to promote Chhapaak. Tension escalated in JNU when groups of masked miscreants barged into the campus and assaulted students in the Sabarmati hostel with metal rods and sticks. Things went haywire when students were accused of raising anti-national slogans on the campus. Three days ahead of Chhapaak's release Padukone took a part in a protest at JNU.
Her participation triggered a massive outrage on social media which led to protests against her. #BoycottChhapaak and #BlockDeepika were among the top trends on Twitter, now X.
Ahead of her visit to JNU, Padukone, in an interview with NDTV, said she was proud as people are able to express themselves. "I feel proud to see that we aren’t scared to express ourselves... I think the fact that we are thinking about the country and its future.... Whatever may be our point of view, it’s nice to see,” the actor had said.
